Suspended officer arrested for theft from Worli police armoury

A suspended police constable from Kurla was on Monday arrested by the Criminal Intelligence Unit of Crime Branch for allegedly stealing 50 live rounds of SLR from the Worli police armoury.

The arrested constable has been identified as Jalgaon native Mahendra Patil.

According to the police, a preliminary inquiry was initiated after it was learnt by the department that 50 live cartridges of 7.62 mm were missing from the Worli Local Arms Unit of Mumbai Police on December 09, last year. Statements of five police constables were recorded by the inquiry officer and it was revealed that Patil had stolen the rounds.

"Sanjay Mali, one of the constables at Worli office, while doing the guard duty slept in chair and had kept the band-roll carrying live cartridges on a chair adjacent to his. When he woke up he realised the band-roll and cartridges were missing. He then informed his superiors about the same," said a police officer.

He added, the policemen searched in the premises, but could not trace the cartridges. "Another police constable Arun Nikumbh from Dadar Police Station had told the police that on December 09, his batch-mate Patil had called him and said that he found a band-roll of live cartridges in a bus while from Worli to Dadar. On Nikumbh's advise, Patil then submitted the rounds at Dadar police station and left," said the officer.

Later same day, Patil met another police constable Bhagwan Kadam and had informed him that he had found the band-roll of cartridges at Shankaracharya Garden at Worli and had got them submitted at Dadar Police Station, police said.

The police also learnt that Patil has three cheating cases registered against him at his native place in Amalner in Jalgaon. On the directions of Commissioner of Police, an FIR on theft charges was registered in the matter against Patil on February 18.