In a bizarre and audacious crime spree, two friends in North Goa's Pernem taluka allegedly financed a lavish lifestyle by taking loans from banks and financial institutions on gold they had stolen. The Pernem police, after cracking the case, arrested the duo and recovered stolen gold ornaments worth a staggering Rs 53 lakh.
The Modus Operandi: A Cycle of Theft and Loans
According to Deputy Superintendent of Police (Pernem) Salim Shaikh, the arrested individuals have been identified as 29-year-old Rohan Padwal from Pernem and 20-year-old Jagannatha alias Ketan Bagkar from Colvale. The pair is suspected to be involved in 11 separate theft cases across the Pernem region.
Their scheme was alarmingly simple yet effective. After committing a burglary and stealing gold jewellery, they would promptly visit financial institutions and nationalised banks. There, they would secure a loan against the very gold they had just stolen. Financial institutions provided them loans worth up to 70% of the gold's value.
"Every time they committed theft, they used to go to the bank and financial institution to top up their loan," DySP Shaikh explained. Shockingly, the institutions continued to grant them fresh loans on new stolen gold, despite the duo never repaying their existing debts.
Funding a Lavish Lifestyle with Ill-Gotten Gains
The proceeds from these fraudulent loans were then used to fund a life of instant gratification. Police investigations revealed that the money was spent on:
- Purchasing new clothes
- Buying multiple bikes and a car
- Funding their addiction to online gaming
The crime spree was not a fleeting one. The accused are believed to have carried out a series of daytime burglaries between December 2024 and their arrest. Their targets spanned several areas including Pernem, Dhargalim, Virnoda, Tuem, and Korgao.
Evading Capture: Movie-Inspired Tactics and Disguises
DySP Shaikh noted that the duo employed clever, albeit criminal, tactics to avoid detection, claiming they were inspired by movies. Their methods to evade police and CCTV cameras were meticulous:
They would re-paint the bike used in their thefts every 15 days and fit it with forged number plates featuring deliberately small handwriting to make identification difficult on camera footage.
Their operational discipline was strict. Bagkar, an ITI student, would plan thefts during his holidays. To avoid raising suspicion, they never surveyed a target house together beforehand. They strictly operated between 10 am and 1 pm, with one friend entering the house while the other kept watch outside for returning residents.
Further muddying their trail, the pair would arrive at a secluded meeting point on different bikes, then proceed to the target location on a single vehicle. After committing the theft, they would immediately change their clothes before leaving the area, making it harder for witnesses to provide accurate descriptions.
The arrest by Pernem police on Tuesday has put an end to this unique cycle of crime. The case highlights a significant loophole in the loan-against-gold process that the accused exploited repeatedly, raising questions about the verification protocols at the involved financial institutions.
