Two held in Navi Mumbai nearly two years after stealing LED TV from school

The Navi Mumbai crime branch arrested two men for stealing an LED television and a projector from a Zilla Parishad (ZP) school in Panvel almost two years ago. One of the accused was trying to sell the TV in scrap but the deal could not be finalised as the scrap dealer was only giving him ₹50 for it.

The accused duo – Roshan Mhatre (27 years) and Vinay Joshi (22) – are both residents of Harigram village in Panvel. The ZP school is also located in the same village.

On February 6, 2018, under the influence of alcohol, the two broke into the school through the window and stole the 41-inch LED TV and the projector. The duo thought they were stealing a home theatre system, the said police. But the men woke up to a disappointment the next morning.

“They split the booty amongst themselves. While Joshi kept the projector, Mhatre took the TV home. When they came to their senses the next morning, they were unable to operate the electronics. They stored the items at home until recently when Mhatre tried to sell the TV,” said Sharad Dhole, assistant inspector at crime branch unit 2.

When the scrap dealer was only ready to pay for the scrap value and said he would give him nothing more than ₹50, Mhatre called off the deal. An informant then alerted the police about the TV after which they picked up Mhatre for interrogation.

Police said Mhatre confessed to stealing the items from the school with Joshi. The police recovered both the electronic items from the accused’s houses.

Both the men have no previous criminal records and police said this was their first attempt at stealing.

The state government had donated the electronics to the school and is a property of the state, said police.