Five Held for Stealing Coastal Road Streetlight Cables in Worli

Tardeo police have arrested five individuals, including a minor, for allegedly stealing live copper cables powering Coastal Road streetlights near the National Sports Club of India (NSCI) in Worli.

The theft caused multiple streetlights along the Worli stretch of the Coastal Road to lose power. According to investigators, the accused are fishermen from Worli who sleep on the jetty and allegedly stole the power cables under the cover of darkness.

The adult suspects were identified by police as Hussain Kadir Shaikh alias Choko, 39, a resident of the Mahatma Phule Nagar slums in Worli; Nur Mohammad Amir Khan, 19; Aman Bilal Shaikh, 22, from Markandeshwar Nagar in Worli; and Jakir Shaikh, 19, from Kalyan. The fifth person, a minor, was taken into custody and produced before the Juvenile Justice Board.

The issue was first spotted during a patrol on Wednesday night when employees of Top Turbo Engineers Pvt Ltd, the agency tasked with maintaining the Coastal Road, found that several streetlights near NSCI in Worli were turned off.

An electrical engineer accompanying the patrol team examined the infrastructure and confirmed that the power supply cables had been removed from several poles. Following the inspection, the firm's project manager, Tuffankumar Panda, 36, approached the Tardeo police station and lodged a formal complaint.

Under the supervision of Assistant Commissioner of Police Mahesh Mugutrao, an investigation team led by Assistant Police Inspector Dilip Tambe reviewed CCTV footage from the surrounding area. The footage helped officers identify suspects who had prior criminal records. The police then utilized records from their earlier cases, including mobile phone details, to track down and detain the group.

Police stated that the accused had already sold the stolen copper cables to a scrap dealer. Further efforts are currently underway to identify and trace the scrap dealer in order to recover the stolen property.