Even thieves have their rules. How else would one explain the return of a thief, who was declared wanted in 2006? He came back to the city to bail out two of his accomplices who were in custody of Vastrapur police. Unfortunately for him, before he could help the duo, he was caught by Vastrapur police on Wednesday.
The arrested has been identified as Gokaljee Patidar, a native of Kathdi village of Dungarpur in Rajasthan. According to Vastrapur police, he was declared ‘wanted’ by Satellite police in 2006. As part of their modus operandi, Patidar became a domestic help at a posh bungalow in Satyagrah Chhavni in Satellite. On getting an opportunity, Patidar stole valuables worth Rs12.5 lakh from the bungalow and fled to his native village. Since then, he had remained out of the clutches of police.
“At that time, Satellite police had gone to his village looking for him, but they could never find him. However, they recovered valuables worth Rs4.5 lakh from his house. Police learned that one Manilal Patidar was also involved in that theft. Manilal is still absconding,” said Naimkhan Pathan, assistant sub-inspector of Vastrapur.
On October 15, Vastrapur police nabbed one Premji Patel, 35, and Mukesh Patel, natives of Patdi village of Dungarpur, both members of Patidar’s gang. The duo used to follow the same modus operandi. They would take up jobs as domestic help and disappear after stealing from there. They were arrested when they returned to the city in search of their next targets.
The gang had a pact according to which if any of them was arrested, the free members would bail them out. Adhering to this, Patidar returned to Ahmedabad, hoping no one would identify him. However, he was identified and police were informed.
“He had come to become a guarantor for the bail of Premji and Mukesh. They all are part of five-member gang. All of them have an understanding that whoever is out will become the guarantor for bail of arrested members,” said Pathan, who arrested Patidar on Wednesday.
