MUMBAI: An employee of a gold manufacture workshop in Dahisar, who was on the run after stealing 95gm of gold, was nabbed from West Bengal by a team of MHB Colony police after clever technical analysis.
The accused, Arif Shaikh, 29, had sought help from an associate, Salman Shaikh, and sold about 40gm of the stolen gold in Mumbai and Ahmedabad, police said. Both men have been arrested.
The theft was reported on February 28. Arif was among 18 workers employed at the gold manufacture workshop in Dahisar (W). The staff used to live and work out of the same workshop.
"Around 8.30am, Arif pocketed 95gm of gold and walked out. He was dressed in a T-shirt and a pair of shorts to avoid suspicion," said senior inspector Sudhir Kudalkar. When he did not return and the gold was reported missing from the workshop, his employer registered a complaint with the MHB Colony police.
Investigators tracked the location of Arif's cellphone and learnt that he was in Ahmedabad. A police team left for Ahmedabad but he was not found and had switched off his phone. Another police team in Mumbai started analysing his previous mobile number, which was no longer in use. They zeroed down on the number of his close friend with whom he used to be in touch regularly.
"This friend shared Arif's latest contact number," said assistant inspector Suryakant Pawar. The phone location showed that Arif was moving between Ahmedabad and West Bengal. Investigators quickly gathered that he was on a long-distance train.
On February 3, the Mumbai team took a flight to Kolkata, hired a vehicle and travelled to Kharagpur Junction, a railway station in Bengal. The train that had left from Ahmedabad towards Bengal was scheduled to halt at Kharagpur. Police teams split up and carried out searches in 12 sleeper coaches and three general coaches of the train, but to no avail.
They then decided to check the AC coach and found Arif there. After he disclosed Salman's role, police got him to call Salman without revealing that he had been caught. He summoned Salman to Howrah, from where the police team picked him up.
Police recovered 55gm of gold from both the accused. Arif and Salman are both natives of West Bengal.