Mumbai, (The Hindu): An employee with a cell phone store in Ghatkopar, who had stolen 62 brand new phones and sold them at lower rates in the last four months to make a quick buck, was arrested on January 20.

According to the Ghatkopar police, the accused, identified as Sachin Kashyap (28), used to work in a cell phone sale and service centre as a salesman.

Earlier in January, his employer, Mahesh Yadav, found that a few cell phones were unaccounted for. When he undertook an audit, he realised that 62 cell phones had gone missing over the past four months. He approached the police and an FIR of theft under the Indian Penal Code was registered against unknown persons.

“There were no signs of forced entry into the store and in any case, repeated forced entry would have been noticed, which pointed to the involvement of an insider. We questioned employees, and Mr. Kashyap came across as nervous and evasive,” senior police inspector Vyankat Patil, Ghatkopar police station, said.

Mr. Kashyap was questioned, but he kept denying his involvement. On suspicion, the police searched his residence and found five brand new cell phones. When confronted with them, Mr. Kashyap had no explanation. He finally confessed and was arrested.

Post arrest, investigations found that Mr. Kashyap, around four months ago, allegedly started stealing phones from his workplace and selling them to his friends at lower rates. Slowly, friends of his friends approached him.

Over the next 10 days, the police identified the people that he had sold the stolen cell phones to and contacted them so that those could be recovered.

His customers claimed that they had no idea that he was selling them stolen phones.

“Not just Mumbai, we have recovered cell phones from people staying as far as Dahanu in Palghar district. We have recovered 46 of the 62 cell phones so far, and will soon be recovering more,” Mr. Patil said.