In a swift breakthrough, the Bandra Railway Police have arrested the main accused in the theft of a police constable’s bag containing a service pistol, live cartridges and an identity card within hours of the offence being registered.
The stolen bag belonged to a constable deployed as a security guard at the Bandra residence of Jaidev Balasaheb Thackeray, son of late Shiv Sena supremo Balasaheb Thackeray. The accused, identified as Ashish Pintu Kashyap, was traced and apprehended with the help of CCTV footage from Bandra railway station. Police said the stolen pistol, cartridges and identity card will soon be recovered. The accused is currently in police custody and further investigation is underway.
The complainant, Sushant Jayaram Gaikwad (32), a resident of Ambernath, is attached to State Reserve Police Force (SRPF) Group No. 11 in Navi Mumbai as a police constable. At present, he is posted as a security guard at Jaidev Thackeray’s residence at Kalanagar in Bandra.
On February 27 at around 8.45 am, Gaikwad had gone for his monthly firing practice at the SRPF Group No. 8 firing range in Goregaon. After completing the session, he returned to Bandra for duty. Later that night, at around 10.30 pm, he was relieved from duty and left for home. Before heading back, he went out in Bandra with his friend Vishal Singh.
At around 2.30 am, he reached Bandra railway station. As he had missed the last local train, he lay down on a bench at the Mahim end of Platform No. 1 and fell asleep. When he woke up at about 4.30 am, he discovered that his bag had been stolen by an unknown person.
Taking advantage of the constable being asleep, the accused fled with the bag containing a government-issued pistol worth Rs 1.5 lakh, 29 live cartridges worth Rs 29,000, his police identity card, clothes and the bag itself. The total value of the stolen property is estimated at Rs 1.79 lakh.
Gaikwad immediately approached the Bandra Railway Police and lodged a complaint. A case of theft was registered. Considering the seriousness of a government-issued firearm and live ammunition being stolen, senior officers directed both the Bandra Railway Police and the Local Crime Branch to conduct a parallel probe.
Police teams examined CCTV footage from the railway station and analysed technical inputs. Based on the footage, Ashish Kashyap was detained on Monday. During interrogation, he confessed to committing the theft.
Investigations revealed that after stealing the bag, Kashyap exited the railway station and checked its contents. On discovering the pistol and live cartridges, he panicked. He then placed the bag on a parked motorcycle outside the station and fled from the spot. He allegedly escaped from Bandra to Dadar and later to Vidyavihar. The entire sequence was captured on CCTV cameras, which helped police track him down.
Following his arrest, Kashyap was produced before a court on Tuesday afternoon and remanded to police custody. Police officials said efforts are underway to recover the stolen government pistol, live cartridges and police identity card. Further investigation in the case is ongoing.