PUNE: The Pimpri Chinchwad police on Thursday claimed to have cracked 48 burglaries with the arrest of two men, part of a six-member gang of criminals.
Gold ornaments, two high-end motorcycles and other valuables, collectively worth Rs18.3lakh, have been recovered from them. Among the solved cases was the theft of Rs2lakh from a flat at Shriya society in Bavdhan on August 20. “The gang was active in the district for the past three years. Among the 48 burglaries, 22 were in this year, six in 2020, 12 in 2019 and eight in 2018,” Pimpri Chinchwad police commissioner Krishna Prakash said.
A crime branch team, led by senior inspector Prasad Gokule, arrested Sahil Nanavat (25) and Devdas Nanavat (23), brothers from Pathargaon near Kamshet. “Their four accomplices, including the kingpin, are on the run. We arrested a Paud jeweller who used to buy ornaments from them,” Krishna Prakash said.
CCTV footage
Krishna Prakash said that assistant inspector Ambarish Deshmukh and police constable Prashast Said visited each burglary spot and collected CCTV footage. “With clues from the footage and technical investigation, they identified a gang from Mulshi and Maval,” he said. The Nanavat brothers were taken into custody from Daund. “The duo revealed the names of their accomplices and the jeweller from Paud,” he said.
Modus operandi
Assistant inspector Ambarish Deshmukh said the gang was involved in manufacturing illegal liquor. They have cases against them. “The gang members carried out recce of locked houses, mostly on the outskirts of the city, during the day and burgled them at night,” Deshmukh said.
He said that they even broke into grocery stores and mobile stores. “They only used to steal cash from mobile stores,” Deshmukh said.
