Navi Mumbai: A 24-year-old man arrested by Kamothe police for stealing a bike from a parking lot near Khandeshwar railway station escaped from the police station through a washroom window on Sunday around 4.20 pm. He had pretended to relieve himself before making his getaway. However, the police launched an immediate search operation and apprehended him six hours later by tracing him to his residence in Wadala (W), Mumbai. A fresh FIR under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) was registered against him for intentional resistance, obstruction, or escape from lawful custody.
Details of the Arrest and Escape
API Yashwant Patil of Kamothe police station informed that the accused, Chetan Chandrakant Kaatkar, a resident of Ganesh Nagar chawl in Wadala (W), was arrested on May 29 in connection with a vehicle theft FIR registered on May 26. Kaatkar had stolen a parked bike near Khandeshwar railway station. The bike owner, Nihar Pal (23), a resident of Khanda colony who works for an IT company in CBD-Belapur, had parked his bike and gone to work by train. When he returned around 8 pm, he found his bike missing.
Through CCTV surveillance, the police identified Kaatkar and arrested him from Wadala. The stolen bike was also recovered. API Patil stated, “Kaatkar was in police custody and locked at Kamothe police station. On Sunday around 4.30 pm, he pretended to visit the washroom, with a constable guarding outside. However, Kaatkar removed the horizontal glass panes of the toilet window and pushed the iron grille frame, which was rusty and old, causing it to come off. As Kaatkar was slim, he easily escaped through the small window. The constable on guard heard the loud noise and ran behind the police station to reach the bathroom window, but Kaatkar was already running away. The constable chased him, but Kaatkar jumped over the compound wall of a building and escaped.”
Recapture and Previous Criminal Record
API Patil added, “From CCTV camera surveillance, Kaatkar was spotted escaping by train from Kamothe railway station. A police team continued tracking his location and apprehended him from his Wadala residence around 10.30 pm. Previously, he was arrested by Wadala police in a house break-in theft case. He stole the bike from Khandeshwar for a leisure ride and to conduct reconnaissance for committing burglary.”
The police have registered an additional case under the BNS for escape from custody. The accused remains in police custody for further investigation.
