Pune: Crime Branch Unit 5 Busts Mobile Phone Theft Ring, Apprehends Repeat Offender from Kondhwa

Pune: In a significant breakthrough, the Crime Branch’s Unit 5 team has apprehended a notorious criminal involved in the theft of mobile phones from bus passengers and vegetable buyers. The swift action, conducted on March 23 near Shital Petrol Pump in Kondhwa, has led to the seizure of five mobile phones valued at Rs 55 thousand and unveiled a string of five crimes committed by the accused. Identified as Parvez Rehman Shaikh, aged 40, and residing in Bhagyodaya Nagar, Kondhwa Khurd, the arrested individual has a history of mobile phone theft.

The operation unfolded as police officers and enforcers of Crime Branch Unit 5 were on patrol duty within the Kondhwa Police Station limits. Acting on intelligence regarding Parvez Sheikh’s involvement in mobile phone theft, the team swiftly set up a trap near the Shital petrol pump and successfully apprehended the suspect. Subsequent searches led to the recovery of five stolen mobile phones from the accused’s possession.

Further investigations revealed that Parvez had brazenly stolen a mobile phone from an open house in Kondhwa and had also targeted unsuspecting commuters on buses and shoppers in vegetable markets in Hadapsar.

The operation was executed under the leadership of Police Inspector Ulhas Kadam, along with the efforts of Police Sub-Inspector Avinash Lohte and a team comprising Police Rajas Shaikh, Pramod Tilekar, Daya Shegar, Prithviraj Pandule, Swati Gawde, Pallavi More, and Rahul Dhamdere, under the guidance of Deputy Commissioner of Police Crime Amol Zende and Assistant Commissioner of Police Satish Govekar.