The Malad police arrested Ashish Sayal, 32, an office boy who worked for music composer Pritam Chakraborty, for allegedly stealing money from Chakraborty’s studio. The police apprehended the accused in Jammu and Kashmir and brought him to Mumbai on Friday. Sayal, who was employed at the studio, allegedly stole a bag containing Rs.40 lakh and fled on February 4. The Malad police registered a case against him on February 5.
The Malad police said they recovered 95% of the stolen cash. PSI Tushar Sukhdeve stated, “After committing the crime, the accused spent the entire night in various parts of Mumbai’s suburbs. First, he took an auto-rickshaw to Kandivali. Then he walked to Marve Road, took another auto-rickshaw to Malvani, and walked to Charkop. He then took a third auto-rickshaw, got down at Samta Nagar, and took a fourth auto-rickshaw to Versova. He spent nearly 10 hours walking and changing auto-rickshaws to mislead the police.”
The police examined around 200 CCTV footage clips over eight days and nights, eventually tracing him to Versova. They discovered he had fled to Jammu and Kashmir. A police team was then dispatched there. By reviewing hotel and roadside CCTV footage, they traced him to the Samba railway station area in Samba district in Jammu and Kashmir.
The police gathered local residents, informed them about the crime, and, with the help of local police, tracked Sayal to Manohar Gopala village, where he was arrested. He confessed to the crime. Sayal’s native village is Digiana in Jammu and Kashmir. A raid at his residence revealed that he had purchased an iPhone from stolen money.
The police recovered Rs.36.91 lakh, a laptop, and the iPhone. He was brought to Mumbai in the early hours today on a transit remand.
A team led by PSI Tushar Sukhdeve, along with his detection team, under the guidance of DCP-Zone 11, Anand Bhoite, Senior Inspector Vijaykumar Panhale, and Police Inspector Sanjay Bedwal, made multiple attempts to track him down.
