Techie turned hospital thief because of Covid-19 bill burden, arrested in Delhi

Police on Thursday said they arrested a 31-year-old engineer-turned-thief from Pune, who, enraged by a runaway bill for his Covid-19 treatment in 2021, took revenge on hospitals in Pune, Mumbai and Delhi by stealing costly equipment from them.

Though he made repeated requests for the concession of his bill of ₹20-25 lakh, denials saw him running up debt for the treatment, police added. They added that the accused, Vikas Hagawane, robbed laptops, iPads, iPods, mobiles, jewellery and other items of value from national and international multispecialty hospitals, and was tracked during one such robbery at the oncology department of Apollo Hospital in Sarita Vihar on April 10.

Police added that they reviewed videos from more than 400 CCTV cameras to track the suspect. "We realized that this individual was residing in a hotel in Paharganj. On the basis of technical surveillance and human intelligence, the accused was apprehended from the hotel," deputy commissioner of police (southeast) Ravi Kumar Singh said.

Hagwane is a computer science engineer from a Pune college, police added. He was in Delhi since April 8 to commit a series of burglaries and was arrested on Monday.

We discovered that he (earlier) had committed thefts at Manipal Hospital, Dwarka, Fortis Hospital, Vasant Kunj and Max Super Specialty Hospital in Noida. We seized four costly laptops, a mobile, a pair of branded sunglasses and an Apple iPod from him," the DCP added.

Singh stated the accused was under debt and had been "harbouring resentment" against private hospitals since then. Police added that he began looting from hospitals in Pune and Mumbai, and later shifted to Jaipur, Delhi, Noida and Gurugram.

A detective revealed, "To avoid being traced, he went out of his way to avoid using SIM cards, opting instead to run a mobile phone connected solely to hotel Wi-Fi. He would scan major hospitals, study the building layout, and mark areas left unattended by doctors. At the busiest working hours, he would dress as a visitor, enter empty OPDs or staff rooms, and swipe valuable items, including laptops, mobile phones, money, and accessories.

Hagwane also fabricated a bill book to create imitation sales invoices. Prior to his arrival in Delhi, police said he remained in Jaipur for three weeks and targeted several hospitals. Police stated they discovered details of six cases against him in Mumbai and Pune, and are seeking more information from Jaipur Police.