12 arrested for theft of phones, jewellery, cash on first day of Mumbai's Bandra Fair attended by 50,000 devotees

Mumbai: Twelve people, including two 17-year-old teenagers from Amravati and three women from Pune, were booked for theft following nine FIRs at the Bandra police station on Sunday on the first day of the week-long Bandra Fair Sunday. The fair will continue until Sept 21.

The suspects allegedly stole mobile phones, gold chains, and wallets of devotees. A Bandra police officer said, "The Amravati teens were caught while trying to steal mobile phones from devotees. Meanwhile, the three women from Pune, who have past cases of theft registered against them during Dagdusheth Ganpati, were caught while attempting to steal gold ornaments."

Approximately 50,000 devotees attended the first day of the 300-year-old fair, which was marked by the reopening of the restored Mount Mary Basilica. Mumbai police commissioner Deven Bharti directed joint commissioner of police (law and order) Satyanarayan Chaudhary to develop strategies to curb the activities of thieves posing as devotees.

Assistant inspectors Vikram Patil and Bajrang Jagtap were part of a team comprising seven police officers and 28 constabulary from police stations between Bandra and Versova. Under the supervision of DCP Dikshit Gedam, the team successfully apprehended the accused.

ACP Adikrao Pol said the 12 individuals were from Nirmal Nagar (Bandra East) in Santacruz, Ambivli in Thane district, Amravati and Pune. "Those caught were in the age group of 17 to 35," said assistant inspector Bajrang Jagtap.

In 2018, Bandra police had arrested three women chain-snatchers who allegedly arrived from Chennai to rob people during the Mount Mary festival. An interpreter was arranged to interrogate the three women, who communicated solely in Tamil.