Teen held for 10 thefts scores 60%

An 18-year-old in Kolhapur police custody for committing 10 house break-ins has come out with flying colours by securing 60% marks in the HSC exam.
Avadhut Patil, a Class IV state scholarship holder, was nabbed in April for allegedly breaking into houses and stealing valuables. His journey into crime began after he came to Pune to pursue higher education after scoring an impressive 94% in the Class X examination.
His parents, who live in Dewulwadi village from Bhudargad taluka, around 75km from Kolhapur, had ensured that he secured admission in a prestigious college in Kolhapur. While living in the city, he allegedly lost Rs 1,000 and a mobile phone that he had borrowed from his brother in Rajarampuri last year. The ease with which the thief had taken the goods impressed him and he decided to try his hand at it.
Within no time, Avadhut had broken into ten houses, most of this friends and acquaintances, in the city and fled with mobile phones, laptops and jewellery. He would later sell the goods through a website. Police had recovered valuables worth Rs 12 lakh including seven laptops, seven mobile phones, gold jewellery and two motorcycles. Kolhapur police nabbed Avadhut in April, a few days after the HSC exams ended. He has been in their custody since then.
On Tuesday, however, he had a smile back on his face. He scored 393 marks out of total 650 in the results declared online on Tuesday. Inspector Dhanyakumar Godase, in-charge of Laxmipuri police station, said "He has done well in languages with 83 marks in Marathi and 78 in English. However, he has scored less than 50 marks in Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Mathematics. He is happy with the result and has said that he wants to pursue college education."
After Avadhut's arrest, he had expressed regret and promised to correct his ways and pursue higher education.
Police superintendent Pradeep Deshpande had assured him all help he wants to study further.