Sena volunteer steals ring, caught on CCTV

Mumbai: Self-proclaimed politician, Deepak Ramgopal Bhaise, stole a high-valued ring from a jewellery store in Tilak Nagar and was recognized by the police by the poster he had put up in Shivaji Nagar featuring him.

He's a volunteer for the Shiv Sena's Shikshak Kamgar Sena. The police saw the CCTV footage of the theft and the poster he had put up in Shivaji Nagar, and realized it featured the same person.

On December 30, 2010, Kesrilal Jain, owner of Kamal Jewellery approached the area's police after a gold ring, valued at Rs 36,000 went missing from his store. The jeweller told investigators that the robbery took place when his shop was unattended for about 10 minutes the same afternoon.

Jain then provided the police with a CCTV footage in which an unidentified person was seen stealing the ring. However the footage was of little use as the thief did not figure in police records.

Over the following two weeks, a team, headed by ACP (Chembur division) Keshav Shinde, studied the CCTV grab but made no headway.

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On January 14, Shinde was doing his routine rounds near Shivaji Nagar in Govandi and noticed a political banner alongside a road. The face, staring innocently at him from the poster, looked familiar. It belonged to the man the officer had seen on the video grab from the jewellery store.

Shinde ran a background check on the person. He learnt that his name was Deepak Ramgopal Bhaise, a member of the Shikshak Kamgar Sena, a wing of the Shiv Sena. A police team was immediately sent to summon him for questioning.

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Bhaise broke down and confessed to his crime. He also told investigators that he had sold the ring to another politician.

Both the politicians are now cooling their heels behind bars. "When we questioned him, Bhaise confessed to the crime and told the police that he had sold the ring to a local politician," said Inspector vilas Shinde of the Tilak Nagar police.

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Shiv Sena leader Milind Bhosle disowned Bhaise and denied that the party had anything to do with him.

"He was a volunteer of the Shikshak Kamgar Sena and put up the banner himself to show that he had close ties with Aditya Thackeray and other party leaders. He has nothing to do with the Sena."

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To avoid further embarrassment, local politicians pulled down the poster as soon as they learnt about Bhaise's arrest.