Army Deserter Arrested for Burglary in Pune; Gold Worth Rs 14 Lakh Recovered

Wanowrie, 5th April 2025: A man previously declared a deserter from the Indian Army has been arrested in connection with a burglary at the home of a serving Army havildar in Pune’s Wanowrie area. The suspect, identified as Amarjeet Vinod Kumar Sharma (30), allegedly used his Army identification card to access the secure military housing and fled with gold ornaments valued at ₹14 lakh.

According to police, the burglary occurred on March 7, when the suspect broke the locks of the locked flat belonging to Havildar K.M. Vadivellu (35), who was away at the time. Sharma, originally from Baghel village in Himachal Pradesh, had been absent without leave for several months from his Army unit in Jodhpur and was declared a deserter in 2023.

“After leaving the Army unit, the suspect traveled through various cities and eventually reached Pune. He used his military ID to enter the Army quarters, targeted a locked apartment at random, and escaped with the gold,” said Assistant Police Inspector Dhanaji Tone, who is investigating the case.

The breakthrough came through analysis of surveillance footage and technical tracking, including mobile phone data. “We followed Sharma’s digital footprint across multiple cities—Pune, Ambala, Delhi, Jodhpur, Belgaum, and Kolhapur—before locating and arresting him on March 30,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone IV) Rajkumar Shinde.

Police said they seized four mobile phones, a steel crowbar, multiple identity cards including an Army ID, and other materials from Sharma during the arrest. Further investigation revealed that Sharma had melted the stolen gold and mortgaged it to repay loans.

“Over the past week, we tracked and recovered 162 grams of melted gold, worth approximately ₹13.77 lakh, from jewellers in Delhi and Himachal Pradesh,” DCP Shinde added. On April 1, police also apprehended Karan Dagar (25), a jeweller from Delhi, for allegedly buying the stolen gold from Sharma.

Both Sharma and Dagar have been remanded to police custody by a Pune magistrate court until April 7.

Investigators believe Sharma may have committed similar burglaries in other cities. “During interrogation, he admitted to a theft in Himachal Pradesh earlier this year. We are verifying whether he has a wider criminal history,” API Tone said.