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Bag-lifter posing as Army officer held

Staff Reporter

He had earlier been arrested and convicted twice for similar offences

NEW DELHI: A man described by the police as a Bangladeshi immigrant who allegedly used to steal belongings of Army personnel by posing as an Army officer has been arrested by the Special Staff of the South-West Delhi police. He had earlier been arrested and convicted twice for similar offences in Mumbai and Bikaner but had allegedly resumed his "activities" after serving the sentences in both the cases.

The Deputy Commissioner of Police (South-West), R.S. Yadav, said on Saturday that the Special Staff had got information about an "Army officer" who had been stealing bags and other belongings of Army personnel in the Delhi Cantonment area during the past couple of months.

On Friday, a Special Staff team, comprising Sub-Inspectors Rajkumar, Ravinder Tyagi and others, received a tip-off about the suspect loitering in Gopinath Bazar, Delhi Cantonment. He was rounded up and his identity questioned. The suspect produced a card identifying him as "Lieutenant Virendra Singh of Garhwal Regiment". However, following investigations, his identity was established as Ghulam Mustafa Sheikh, a resident of Jessore in Bangladesh. The police have recovered stolen bags of Army officers and personnel, a stolen identity card and some other articles from his possession.

Police said Mustafa, a school drop-out, crossed over to India in 1998 after his parents died and went to Ludhiana in Punjab. There he got a job but was sacked after he stole a few things from the shop. Mustafa then came to Delhi and lived in Nizamuddin where he worked as a labourer. A Sikh Army officer spotted him and took him to his regiment at Belgaum in Karnataka. He got a job in the Army mess and worked there for two years. During this period, he gained a fair idea about the Army hierarchy, units, regiments and also picked up a smattering of English.

In 2000, he left the job and went to Mumbai. There he purchased army combat fatigues from grey market and began stealing articles of Army personnel on the pretext of helping them out mostly at railway stations. However, he was arrested by Mumbai police and convicted in 2000.

After his release three years later, Mustafa again bought Army fatigues from the grey market and left for Bikaner. There too he applied the same modus operandi to steal the belongings of Army personnel. However, he was again arrested and convicted.

Mustafa came out of jail after 18 months and resumed stealing. He stole the belongings of many Army personnel at Vadodara railway station and in one of the bags got the uniform of an Army officer. He then came to Delhi and began stealing belongings of the Army personnel in Delhi Cantonment.

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