A man, who had allegedly entered at least two apartments in Golf Green in south Kolkata through open balcony doors and stole iPhones and laptops in the last one month, was arrested from Sonarpur in South 24-Parganas district on Monday.
Police said the accused was identified from his unique modus operandi to scale buildings and enter the apartments through open balcony doors, so that there was no sign of a break-in.
Two such complaints were reported at Golf Green police station in the last one month where in both the cases laptops and mobile phones were stolen from the apartments without any damage or break-in marks, the police said.
The first case was reported on November 13 from a four-storey building in the Bikramgarh area. The second incident was reported three weeks later on December 4, not far from the first building in Bikramgarh. “In both the cases phones and laptops were targeted. Another similarity was the thefts were reported from the top floor apartments whose balcony doors were open on the night of the theft,” said an officer of Golf Green police station.
The cases were transferred to the anti-burglary section of the detective department for investigation. The police said the unusual modus operandi helped the officers zero in on the identity of the accused even if he did not leave behind any clue.
“From the way both the thefts were committed it was clear that the accused was an expert in scaling multi-storey buildings without any support. There were no signs of break in. One of the old history-sheeters fitted the exact bill,” said an officer in Lalbazar.
Joydeb Jana, 27, originally from Gosaba in South 24-Parganas, had been arrested earlier in 2017 for his alleged involvement in similar thefts through open balcony doors. Later, he was again arrested for allegedly stealing motorcycles, the cops said. He was out on bail at this moment.
“Jana has this habit of targeting the houses where balcony doors are left open. Many people who live in high rises leave their balcony doors open at night thinking there is no security threat at the top. But he had been targeting these apartments,” said the officer.
Jana was arrested on Monday afternoon and would be produced before the court on Tuesday. The police said they have recovered three iPhones, two Android phones, three iPads and one HP laptop from his possession.