Anil Chauhan alias Kekda and Salman Babu Sheikh had been forced to shift with their families to RCF’s MHADA Colony a few months back after their settlement in Borivali was demolished. Both boys had also been arrested by the Kasturba Marg police for a robbery and attempting to flee from prison. After moving into MHADA Colony, they seized an opportunity and broke into the house of Sharad Azarlekar and his wife.

“The couple is a part of an orchestra and had gone to work on the night of December 14 when Chauhan and Sheikh broke the latch and entered their room. In a span of a few minutes, they had absconded with ornaments, cash and other valuables amounting to Rs 3 lakh,” said Shailesh Pasalwar, Police Inspector (Crime), RCF Police Station.

“I used to go hunting for crabs and that’s how I got my nickname ‘kekda’. Both Salman and I knew each other from Borivali and had been driven to stealing when we got addicted to hashish. We used to blow up all the money on drugs,” said Chauhan, whose parents and brother work as labourers.

While the complaint was registered immediately, the police found it difficult to trace the accused as they could not find any mention of the duo in records of police stations in that area. “The accused had shifted to this area recently and though they had committed crimes in Borivali, we hadn’t arrested them and hence we did not have any previous records. However, after a fortnight of investigation, we finally got a breakthrough when we received a tip-off that two boys had been seen with cell phones, which they had suddenly procured a few days back,” said Pasalwar.