Two held for Thergaon watch shop burglary; stolen goods worth Rs 9.84 lakh recovered

Wakad police in Pimpri Chinchwad have arrested two men on charges of breaking into a watch shop near Dange Chowk in Thergaon and stealing expensive watches. Police said all the stolen goods, with a total value of Rs 9,84,770, have been recovered.

The arrested accused are Aamir Shabbir Shaikh, 28, who lives in Bhimashankar Colony, Adarsh Nagar, Kiwale, and Irfan Hamid Mulani, 21, a resident of Muslim Mohalla behind the Padmavati temple in Use village, Maval taluka.

The theft took place at a shop named Lale Chashmewale and Watches between 9 pm on November 3 and 10 am on November 4. The thieves entered by prising off roof sheets and breaking the plaster of Paris (POP) ceiling. They took the watches and the shop's DVR machine. Police valued these goods at Rs 8,23,701. A case was registered at Wakad police station on the shop owner's complaint under Sections 305, 331(3), 331(4) and 3(5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023, under Crime Register No. 807/2026.

With the CCTV recorder stolen, police had no immediate lead. Senior Police Inspector Vitthal Salunkhe directed the investigation team to trace the suspects. The team went through footage from 150 to 200 government and private CCTV cameras around the spot. Technical analysis showed the direction from which the suspect had come and the route he took while fleeing with an accomplice on an Activa two-wheeler.

On this basis, Assistant Police Inspector Shrinivas Darade and his crime detection team laid a trap and caught Shaikh on November 10. Under questioning he confessed and named Mulani as his accomplice. Mulani was traced and arrested the same day at 10.40 pm.

During the two men's police custody, police recovered 108 expensive watches of brands such as Titan, Titan Raga, Titan Edge and Fastrack, worth Rs 9,04,770. An Activa two-wheeler worth Rs 50,000 and a mobile phone worth Rs 30,000 were also seized.

The investigation was carried out under the guidance of Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone 2) Pradeep Jadhav and Assistant Commissioner of Police (Wakad division) Sunil Kurade. Police Commissioner Vinay Kumar Choubey, Joint Commissioner Dr Shashikant Mahavarkar and Additional Commissioners Sarang Awad and Basavaraj Teli also guided the team. Besides Salunkhe and Darade, the team included Sub-Inspector Marane, Assistant Sub-Inspector Dale, head constables Vandu Gire, Vijay Ghadge, Vijay Bhusare, Mohammad Nadaf, Sachin Gaikwad and Vijay More. Constables Kaunteya Kharade, Dnyandev Zhende, Karbhari Palve, Vikram Bhagat, Samadhan Kamble, Pramod Gaikwad, Abhishek Mande and Mangesh Lokhande were also part of the team. Darade is conducting further investigation.