As reported in TOI on 26 December 2009

The Tilak Nagar police are on the lookout for unidentified persons who broke into the house of a TV journalist and stole gold ornaments worth Rs 2 lakh to 3 lakh on Friday.

According to the police, the incident occurred on the ground floor flat at BMC Building on P L Lokhande Marg in Chembur. Senior inspector R M Gavit said that they have registered a case of house-breaking and theft against unidentified person. Further investigations are on, the police said.

As reported in TOI  by V Narayan, on 7 October 2009,

Remember , Do not hitch hike …

The crime branch on Sunday arrested a gang that offered a lift to strangers. The victims are those who miss their last local train on the Central line. The gang allegedly robbed their valuables at chopper-point after reaching an isolated place on the Eastern Express Highway.

In the past month, the gang robbed more than 25 people using the modus operandi. Over 25 mobile phones were recovered from the three accused – kingpin Mohammed Mehtab Ali Khan (25), Shaukat Ali Shaikh (26) and Prakash Sharma (31) – residents of Trombay, Wadala and Kandivli, respectively. They are wanted in connection with cases at Kashimira, Kalamboli, Rabodi, Vashi and Turbhe police stations.

On September 28, a flower merchant, Tushar Bhosale, was travelling to the Dadar flower market at midnight. A Indigo car stopped in front of Bhosale and those inside offered him a lift. “When the vehicle reached Airoli, the accused attacked me with a chopper and robbed my gold chain, cash and a mobile phone worth Rs 36,000. They taped my mouth, tied my hands and threw me on the highway.”

Acting on a tip-off, crime branch officials nabbed the accused at the Golden Bai junction in Thane. “The accused would park near Peninsula Hotel at Sion or Priyadarsani Park in Chembur and target those who had missed their last local,” additional commissioner of police (Thane crime branch) Prashant Burde told TOI.

As reported in DNA by Somendra Sharma on  August 26, 2009

In an incident at Marine Drive last week, a private vehicle driver almost lost a laptop to a gang of thieves, but he immediately discovered the theft, chased the thief and got the notebook back. Rajesh Shankar Jadhav, 23, then alerted the police and helped the cops arrest the gang trained in duping unvigilant drivers and robbed them of laptops.

The gang used to operate mainly near Churchgate railway station, Eros cinema, Mantralaya, Azad Maidan, CST railway station and Fort.

Police said Jadhav was waiting near his car at Mantralaya after dropping his employer nearby. A man approached him asking for help to collect some currency notes that had fallen off his hand. Rajesh noticed that there were a few Rs10 notes, Rs100 note and Rs500 note strewn on the road at a distance.

Rajesh suspected foul play and did not extend any help. Instead, he got back into his car to find out that a laptop was missing from the dashboard. A passerby, who had seen a guy lifting the laptop bag, tipped Rajesh saying that the thief ran towards the Akashvani building. He then chased the thief and got back the laptop.

Rajesh brought him to the Marine Drive police station, where the thief, Sudhan Ratnam Sarviya, 26, a native of Andhra Pradesh, admitted that he had put the thrown the notes on the road to dupe the driver, while his associate lifted the laptop from the car. His accomplice, Mohammad Sharif Mohammad Yusuf, 38, and a cyber cafe owner from Chembur was also later caught by the Marine Drive police.

“We have recovered two stolen laptops from Yusuf’s cyber cafe,” said assistant police inspector, Kishor Shinde of Marine Drive police station. The police are on the lookout for two more gang members, both natives of Andhra Pradesh.

Excerpt from CG+, reported by Sujatha Subraman on 9th August 2009: Read Full Article

In an attempt to promote the green drive among the masses, civic officials from M(W) ward decided to rope in citizens from various resident associations to plant 72 saplings along the service road stretching from Amar Mahal up to Somaiya Nullah. August 1, was the day chosen for this green initiative.

Citizens gather around one of the saplings from which the tree guard was stolen

Sadly, prominent citizens like N K Pratapan from Pestomsagar Residents Forum and the local corporator Raja Chougale who took part in this drive were shocked to find the tree guards missing. The very next day after the green drive, over 20 such tree guards were missing.

Citizens were keen on helping with the drive. In the words of Dr V Sangole, joint secretary of Pestomsagar LACG, “We were very happy to partake in this drive because it was for the cause of the environment. We hear so much about global warming that we felt that helping the corporation in planting these saplings was the best way to prevent encroachments as well as to preserve the environment.”

The Nehru Nagar police on Wednesday arrested two youths from a slum in Kurla for stealing cables worth Rs 72,000 from a construction site. The police have registered a case of robbery against the duo.

“On Tuesday night, the accused Nitin Dhumal (21) and Sohail Kaneriwala (19), both residents of Chembur were passing the site where the construction of a telephone tower was in progress at Vatsalabai Naik Nagar in Kurla. They saw several cables lying unattended and taking advantage of the situation ran away with cables worth Rs 72,000. Some slum dwellers spotted them and based on a tip-off we arrested them on Wednesday,” said Senior police inspector P B Kale of the Nehru Nagar police station.

“The boys come from a lower middle-class background. Dhumal’s father is reportedly suffering from a kidney failure and his mother is a housemaid. Kaneriwala’s mother is bed-ridden. It seems it was the boys’ first attempt at crime and they claim that they desperately needed money for household expenses and medicines and hence were driven to commit the robbery,” said Kale.

Harinder Singh Yadav, A 25-year-old youth from Uttar Pradesh, has been charged with stealing a tanker filled with turpentine . Yadav allegedly committed this theft to raise money for his marriage, which was to take place this Friday but it looks some time before Harinder Singh Yadav can get married as he is now in police custody on charges of stealing a tanker, worth Rs 10 lakh, laden with 20,000 litres of turpentine oil valued at Rs 8.5 lakh.

For the last two years, Yadav was employed as a driver with a Chembur transport company in contract with BPCL. His last assignment as to deliver the consignment to a Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) depot in New Delhi on March 18. The consignment started from Chembur but did not reach its destination.

The transporter, Palsingh Gill, said in his complaint, “I was surprised when I got a call from BPCL officials, saying they had not received the consignment. It was supposed to be delivered on March 22.”

The police immediately suspected Yadav and kept track of the calls he had made over the last few weeks. “The calls enabled us to track him down to Ghazipur in Uttar Pradesh where he was getting married,” RCF police inspector Shailesh Pasalwar said.

Pasalwar said Yadav revealed during interrogation that he took the vehicle to Kanpur where he managed to sell the turpentine for Rs 4.5 lakh and abandoned the tanker at a petrol pump in Kanpur.

Sub-inspector Sanjay Bhapkar said Yadav planned the theft a month-and-a-half ago after his marriage was fixed at his hometown in Uttar Pradesh. He claimed that he spent the money on shopping for clothes for the marriage. He also spent part of the money to renovate his house.

Few cars around Swastik Park , deprived of their identity ..

I used to live in Chedda Nagar for  quite a few years during my school days.  I distincly remember , then there used to be regular chain snatching incidents, where the modus operandi would be very simple “Surprise, Blind and Snatch” … Surprise your target victim  (probably to  get their eyes wide open), throw a good portion of red hot chilli powder on their face   and then simply snatch their belongings … usually its the  thick fat mangal  sutra most South Indian women wear ….

Not much or just nothing seems to have changed in Chedda Nagar since 20 years. It happened just yeaterday too … a thief shocks senior citizen with chilli powder, snatches chain as it said in TOI ….

When 64-year-old Rajamma Janardhan went for her daily darshan to the local temple, little did she suspect the fate that awaited her. On Thursday evening, a miscreant threw a fistful of chilli powder at the senior citizen, punched her in the face and snatched her chain. The shocked Janardhan raised an alarm but could do little to stop the thief… Read more in TOI

A few days back, I read this article written by Sudhakar Anchan in Chembur-Ghatkpoar Plus regarding car logos being stolen from parked cars in areas around Chembur, Deonar and Govandi and how many owners of cars like Skodas, BMW’s and Hondas have faced the frustration of this happening to them more than once. A few owners have taken the right step to file a complaint regrading these thefts…

Yesterday, just outside my office in Chembur, I saw quite a few cars( Indigos and Swifts) that had been devoid of their pretty logos. Felt strange to see so many of them cars having lost their identity but then suddenly remembered the article I read just a few days back … Thought I shuould add a reminder here InChembur too…

Balasaheb Pachandkuar, senior inspector of Chembur police station said, “We request more residents to come forward and file complaints against the car logo theft. We will take action accordingly.” … Spread a word of awareness among fellow citizens… please file a complaint, if you are a victim too!!!

Read Sudhakar Anchan’s article in Chembur-Ghatkpoar Plus