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2 teeth and a fractured leg: How Mumbai police caught the ‘Spiderman thief’ | Mumbai News

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Two broken teeth at the crime scene and CCTV footage of a limping man helped the Mumbai police trace and identify the ‘Spiderman thief’ allegedly responsible for over 30 burglaries across the city.

The burglary that proved to be 29-year-old Rohit Rathod’s downfall occurred early on June 22. At around 2.30 am, Rathod entered a second-floor residence at Arpita Apartment in Dahisar (West) through the window. “Hearing some noise in the house, a woman resident woke up and on seeing an unknown person in the house, she raised an alarm,” a police official who investigated the case said.

In a bid to escape, Rathod rushed towards the window of the kitchen and while sliding down the drainage pipe, he slipped and fell on his face from the second floor. Rathod ended up losing two teeth and fractured his left leg.

With the woman raising the alarm, residents gathered at the spot and the MHB Colony police were informed. “Rathod hid under the parked cars for a while and then dragged himself and escaped after scaling the compound wall,” a police official said.

A preliminary inquiry revealed two teeth and blood stains where Rathod fell. The police team scanned CCTV footage from the building and the neighbouring areas. In one such video, the police spotted a man limping; he had dragged himself towards the compound wall before scaling it and escaping. “Through the broken teeth and the CCTV footage, it was clear that the suspect was grievously injured and required medical attention,” an officer said.

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Subsequently, teams headed by Assistant Police Inspector Suryakant Pawar and Police Sub-Inspector Akhilesh Bhombay were formed. The police conducted searches at over 400 hospitals across Mumbai and Virar.

“We looked at every hospital between Dadar and Virar and nearly four months later in mid-October, we learnt that a man was undergoing leg surgery in a hospital at Santacruz,” a police official said. The police went to the hospital and conducted a preliminary inquiry. “We had CCTV footage that matched the patient and after seeing that his two (front) teeth were missing, it was confirmed that he was responsible for the burglary,” the official added.

The police, however, did not arrest him immediately. Rathod underwent surgery and a team monitored his recovery. “Once he was fully recovered, we arrested him on October 20,” a police official said.

“Rathod was an expert at climbing buildings through the drainage pipes due to which he was called the Spiderman thief. He entered houses in the wee hours of the day when the residents were asleep and escaped after stealing valuables,” an officer from MHB Colony police station said.

The police said that Rathod had stolen valuables from two houses on June 22 before falling from the second floor of the building. He had been externed from the city limits by the Vakola police in Santacruz, following which he had shifted his base to Dahisar, the police said.



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Mohd Aman

Editor in Chief Approved by Indian Government

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