The near-perfect sketches of two thieves drawn by a professor from the JJ School of Arts helped the Azad Maidan police nab the duo while they were strolling down the street near the CST station last week.

Reportedly notorious for committing petty thefts for funding their drug habits, the two thieves had robbed a youth outside the JJ School of Arts campus on June 10.

“The complainant Uday Jain (22) who works at a jewellery store at Powai was told by his employer to show some ornaments to the jewellers at Zaveri Bazar. On June 10, Jain was on his way back to the CST station from Zaveri Bazar when he was accosted by two rough-looking youth who accused him of eve-teasing girls. They had then pretended to search him for weapons that he may be carrying and found the pouch containing ornaments that he had kept in a pocket inside his shirt,” said police inspector Ganesh Rekulwad of the Azad Maidan police station.

The accused then seized the pouch and pointed a blade at Jain, ordering him to walk away without creating a scene. Jain later registered a case with the police.

“Three months back, a constable who used to make sketches of wanted accused was transferred and since then the JJ School professors have helped us out in a couple of cases. On June 15, professor Keshav Ghodke of the JJ School had listened to the description of the accused given by Jain and immediately made two sketches. On the morning of June 16, I showed the sketches to the staff of the police station and the same evening, two of our constables on bandobast duty spotted the thieves walking past them and brought them to the police station,” said Rekulwad.

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