Cops bust laptop theft racket,arrest 4

“Phalke has over 40 cases of robbery,thefts and attempt to murders against him. Though he claims that he resorted to stealing laptops only in March,he may have executed several laptop thefts also. As per his statement,he was left with a handicap after an accident in March following which he had to resort to the easier thefts for a livelihood than robberies,” said deputy commissioner of police (Zone VIII) Brijesh Singh.

“Phalke would identify parked cars with laptops kept inside them and he would signal Khan to come and open them. Using a cutter,the accused would cut open the car’s window panes and remove the laptops. They would then dress up like executives and take the stolen items to dealers,ask them to crack the passwords if any and sell them for rates as nominal as Rs 10,000. Their well-dressed appearance and polite demeanor didn’t cause any suspicion and hence many of the stolen items were sold off to places from Lamington Road to Mira Road,” said Singh.

According to a police official,last week both Phalke and Khan were spotted by police patrol van at Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC) when they were moving around suspiciously near parked cars.

Later,they were nabbed while trying to escape on a motorbike and a laptop was recovered from them. The duo confessed to stealing laptops after which other arrests and the recoveries were made.