The Oshiwara Police in Mumbai have arrested a 25-year-old repeat offender in connection with a mobile theft case and recovered 89 stolen mobile phones from him.

According to sources, the complainant in the case, Rahul Ramgopal Mishra (34), approached the police after his Samsung Fold 5 was reportedly stolen outside his hotel at Annapurna Building in Jogeshwari West while he was asleep on August 28.

Under the guidance of Deputy Commissioner (DCP) Dixit Gheda of Zone 9, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Chandrakant Katkar, and Senior Inspector Sanjay Chavan of Oshiwara Police Station, a team led by officer Deepak Thorat and the detection unit apprehended the accused based on a tip-off.

The accused has been identified as Akshay Raju Duglaj, a resident of Anand Nagar in Jogeshwari West. During a search, the team recovered Mishra`s Samsung phone along with six other handsets linked to various theft cases registered at Oshiwara Police Station.

During interrogation, Duglaj revealed that he had stashed 83 more stolen phones in an open area near the drain under a bridge connecting Vaibhav Circle to Celebration Club. Police recovered the additional phones from the site.

A preliminary investigation revealed that Duglaj is a history-sheeter with multiple cases of theft and house-breaking registered against him. He has also been booked under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS) Act and Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA).

The Oshiwara Police are in the process of linking the seized phones to several pending theft cases and verifying ownership to return them to their rightful owners.

An officer from Oshiwara Police Station said the phones were stolen from homes across the slums of Anand Nagar, Gulshan Nagar, Goregaon West, Andheri West, and Bangur Nagar.

This article first appeared on Mid Day