Two held for stealing valuables from Shilpa Shetty’s bungalow

V Narayan (THE TIMES OF INDIA; June 16, 2023)

Mumbai: Two masked men scaled the 20-ft wall of Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty’s bungalow Kinara in Juhu and tried to steal valuables on June 6. After scanning through at least 80 CCTV cameras, the Juhu police on Thursday arrested the two men Arjun Devendra (26) and Ramesh Devendra alias Ajay (22) from Nehru Nagar in Vile Parle. The duo already has 16 cases of housebreaking registered against them.

At the time of the theft attempt, the actress and her family were away in Italy on a family vacation. They have yet to return. The hall, dining room, her daughter's bedroom, and the cupboard were ransacked, police said. “The CCTV cameras in the bungalow captured a man entering after removing the sliding window,” an officer from Juhu police station said.

Supervised by DCP (Zone IX) Krishnakant Upadhaya, the team that cracked the case include Juhu police senior inspector Ajitkumar Vartak, assistant inspector Vijay Dhotre, and detection staff.

Police are probing if they had stolen anything or it was a failed attempt.
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Thieves, repeat offenders, used screwdriver to gain access via sliding window on 1st floor
Shirish Vaktania (MID-DAY; June 16, 2023)

The Juhu police have arrested two thieves who entered actress Shilpa Shetty’s seaside residence through a sliding window on the first floor and made off with valuables on June 6. The cops are awaiting a statement from Shetty, who is abroad at present, mentioning the details of the missing valuables. The accused—Arjun Suresh Babu Debendram, 26, and Ajay alias Ramesh Debendra, 22—are residents of Kartik chawl at Nehru Nagar in Vile Parle East.

Arjun has been named in 12 cases of housebreaking and mobile theft across the city while Ajay is involved in three cases of the latter offence. The incident occurred at the Kinara bungalow at Mukteshwar Lane on Gandhigram Road. The complainant is Shekhar Choudhari, 30, a housekeeping manager at Shetty’s residence.

A police officer said, “On May 24, Shetty left to shoot for a project in a foreign country and the house was locked. On June 6, Choudhari noticed that a first-floor window was open and when he checked CCTV footage, he saw that a man whose face was concealed with a cloth had entered the building at 3.25 am.” The housekeeping manager immediately informed the Juhu police, who registered an FIR.

Senior Inspector Ajit Vartak formed a team comprising API Vijay Dhotre, the investigation officer, and Constables Amit Mahangade, Nitin Mandekar, Suhas Bhosale, Prakash Tasgaonkar, Tadvi and Bankar to nab the accused. The team examined footage from around 60-70 CCTV cameras in the area and eventually traced and arrested the accused on Thursday.

“The entire house, including the master bedroom, hall, dining room and the couple’s daughter’s bedroom, had been messed up. The accused had opened the window with the help of a screwdriver,” a police officer said.

Another officer said, “We have arrested the accused with the help of CCTV cameras but we are waiting for Shetty’s statement about missing valuables. Both the accused have criminal records and they have been involved in more than 13 cases.”

A representative of the actress told mid-day that the actress was unavailable for comment as she is not in the country.