Sweeper held in post office theft case in Hyderabad, Rs 28 lakh seized

The Cyberabad police on Sunday arrested the sweeper of sub-post office at RC Puram for his involvementin the theft case. The accused, identified as Zaheer is said to have watched YouTube videos before committing the offence.

In a press conference, DCP Shilpa Vallu said that the accused tried to mislead the police by setting the office on fire after theft.

Going into details, a complaint was filed by one Chauhan Shankara sub-post master of BHEL Post Office on February 13 claiming that someone broke into the post office set it on fire, and stole the cash kept in the office.

The accused had broken the grills of the post office with gas cutters to enter and stole the cash.

"On February 12, postal officers of few other branches came to BHEL branch sub post office and took some cash. After completion of their working hours, they returned to the post office and deposited the remaining amount. According to the complainant, the cash deposited in the post office on the same day at the branch at 5pm was Rs 34 lakh which was locked in the chest box," police said.

The DCP said that the watchman of the post office called up the complainant around 12.45 am stating that there was a fire accident at the branch. "When the complainant rushed to the spot, he found that fire department officials had doused the fire, however the cash chest was found to be opened with gas cutters. Except Rs 1 lakh, the remaining cash was missing," the she added.

The police said that the accused allegedly set the post office ablaze, before fleeing from the place for screening the evidence. They further added that during the questioning of various staff members of the sub-post office, they found sweeperZaheer's answers were inconsistent.

"When he was interrogated further, he admitted committing the offence and Rs 28 lakh cash was seized from him," the police said, adding that the sweeper committed the crime to solve his financial troubles.