Editor Mr.Mayank Rawat ( Chief Editor Mr. Rohit Mishra )
New Delhi: A 31-year-old man, identified as Vikas, who is a B.Tech graduate from a university in Pune, travelled across cities like Delhi, Jaipur, Pune and Mumbai—not for medical treatment, but to steal electronic devices from hospitals. He would then sell the stolen items using fake bills. However, his run came to an end on Monday when police from the southeast district, investigating a theft of a mobile phone and laptop from a hospital in Sarita Vihar, arrested him from a hotel in Paharganj.
The case came to light on April 10 when Kuldeep, an employee at a hospital in Sarita Vihar, reported the theft of a laptop and mobile phone from the Oncology OPD. He told police that the items were stolen during a doctor’s hospital rounds by an unidentified individual who entered the department. Following this, a case was registered, and a detailed probe was initiated.
DCP (southeast) Ravi Kumar Singh said that over 400 CCTV footage clips from exit and entry points in and around the hospital were examined. Through this extensive surveillance and technical analysis, the suspect was traced to a hotel in Paharganj. The accused was apprehended on April 14, Singh said.
Police revealed that Vikas had a well-planned modus operandi. A senior officer stated that he frequently travelled between cities, staying in budget hotels to maintain a low profile and avoid suspicion. To evade detection, he refrained from using SIM cards and operated a mobile phone that connected only to hotel Wi-Fi networks. This helped him stay off the grid while planning his crimes.
According to police, the accused would search online for prominent hospitals in cities, study layouts, and identify vulnerable areas like unattended doctors’ chambers or OPD rooms. Disguised as a visitor and taking advantage of busy working hours, Vikas would enter these spaces and quickly steal valuable items such as laptops, mobile phones, cash, and accessories.
In addition to thefts, Vikas had a forged bill book ready to generate fake invoices, which he presented when selling the stolen items in second-hand electronics markets. This helped him conceal the illegal origin of the devices, police said.
During his arrest, police recovered four high-end laptops, a mobile phone, Apple AirPods, sunglasses, Rs 6,100 in cash, and the forged bill book used in his transactions. It was also revealed that prior to arriving in Delhi on April 8, Vikas spent 21 days in Jaipur, where he is suspected to have committed similar thefts using the same strategy.
Vikas told the police that he bore a personal grudge against doctors. In 2021, during the Covid-19 pandemic, he was denied a concession on his medical bills at a Pune hospital, which left him in significant debt. He claimed that this incident triggered his resentment and ultimately pushed him toward targeting hospitals in various cities as a form of retaliation.
Further inquiry, by a team led by inspector Vishnu Dutt, revealed that he committed back-to-back thefts in four Delhi hospitals starting from April 10. He was unemployed since the Covid lockdown, and was also involved in six other theft cases registered in Pune and Mumbai.
Mayank Rawat
