‘Beaten’ watchmen held for robbery in society they work in
By Omkar Khandekar
Nearly ten days after an Andheri house was robbed by a ‘gang of 11 people’, who allegedly assaulted the watchmen, the cops have nabbed who they think are the masterminds: the two watchmen themselves.
On July 18, the crooks had allegedly assaulted the two watchmen on duty at Vaibhav Society, Marol Pipeline, before making off with Rs 1.65 lakh worth of jewellery and electronics. The two security guards, Sarvesh Tiwari and Pramod Pandey, who were on duty between 3 and 4 am, claimed they were beaten, tied up and locked in a room prior to the robbery.
“In order to escape suspicion, the two had decided to play victims. They had torn up their clothes beforehand to look like they had been assaulted,” said an official from the Andheri police station.
“The house was empty. Instead of taking the effort to beat and tie up the watchmen, the thieves could have just broken the windows and entered. We checked the mobile phone records of the two watchmen, which revealed frequent calls to a few other numbers in the days leading up to the heist,” said an official.
On investigating further, the police decided it was an inside job. The accused were arrested on Saturday and produced before the Bandra court for remand on Sunday. The police are yet to recover the stolen goods.
“While interrogating the two watchmen, several conflicting statements emerged. We decided to dig further and pulled out their mobile phone records, which revealed several calls made late at night and in early morning . Eventually, the two confessed,” said senior inspector Dhumal of the Andheri police.
Nearly ten days after an Andheri house was robbed by a ‘gang of 11 people’, who allegedly assaulted the watchmen, the cops have nabbed who they think are the masterminds: the two watchmen themselves.
On July 18, the crooks had allegedly assaulted the two watchmen on duty at Vaibhav Society, Marol Pipeline, before making off with Rs 1.65 lakh worth of jewellery and electronics. The two security guards, Sarvesh Tiwari and Pramod Pandey, who were on duty between 3 and 4 am, claimed they were beaten, tied up and locked in a room prior to the robbery.
But, according to officials at the Andheri police station, the two guards plotted an elaborate hoax along with four other watchmen. The six had decided to rob the flat belonging to S B Jacob while he was in Kerala with his family. Of the six watchmen nabbed, two work in the same building while two work in the neighbouring one.
“In order to escape suspicion, the two had decided to play victims. They had torn up their clothes beforehand to look like they had been assaulted,” said an official from the Andheri police station.
“The house was empty. Instead of taking the effort to beat and tie up the watchmen, the thieves could have just broken the windows and entered. We checked the mobile phone records of the two watchmen, which revealed frequent calls to a few other numbers in the days leading up to the heist,” said an official.
On investigating further, the police decided it was an inside job. The accused were arrested on Saturday and produced before the Bandra court for remand on Sunday. The police are yet to recover the stolen goods.
“While interrogating the two watchmen, several conflicting statements emerged. We decided to dig further and pulled out their mobile phone records, which revealed several calls made late at night and in early morning . Eventually, the two confessed,” said senior inspector Dhumal of the Andheri police.
