Rs 80 lakh thief turns prince of charity to 'wash sins', held

AGRA: An employee of a courier firm in Bhuleshwar who allegedly stole Rs 80 lakh from his employer on April 7 was caught in Mathura after his acts of "excessive charity" raised the suspicion of the police in the temple town. The accused, Ramesh Rawat (36), who was wanted by Mumbai police, was nabbed from Vrindavan on Saturday by a joint team of Mumbai and Mathura police.Rawat, who is originally from Gujarat, was employed with the courier company for two years.
The police said that Rawat's "over-the-top feats of charity" gave him away. In his hurry to "atone for his sins", Rawat had landed in the temple town 20 days ago and organized a lavish bhandara, spending Rs 8 lakh, and distributing Rs 8 lakh from the stolen money.
The town of Vrindavan was abuzz with talk of this new "prince of generosity" who distributed Rs 2,000 each to destitutes who attended his bhandara. Even as the stunned local cops started checking his antecedents, Ramesh bought a steamer worth Rs 3 lakh for free rides to Krishna devotees on learning that many drown in the Yamuna while taking a bath.
After the theft, Rawat visited Kolkata, where he stayed in starred hotels and then spent a few days in a five-star hotel in Bengaluru.
His bluff was called when he bought a new SIM card to call his relatives. The Mumbai police, who were tracking his relatives' calls contacted the Mathura cops after tracing calls from the new SIM card.
Subodh Kumar Singh, station house officer of Vrindavan Kotwali, said five Apple iPhones, Rs 10.68 lakh and 120 gram gold have been found from his possession.