A 50-year-old mentally unstable woman with over 25 crime cases against her was arrested by the Juhu police for allegedly stealing materials from an under construction site. The woman features in the top 10 criminal list of Juhu police and the police had admitted her to Thane mental hospital last year in a bid to help her but after getting discharged she continued to steal.
The woman (name withheld by police) for years has been making news for her repeated ‘suicide attempts’ by climbing trees or tall hoardings. She used to pull the stunts in order to seek government’s help for her daughter’s eye treatment. The arrested accused had started her stealing spree during the 1990s. She started committing petty crimes like theft and robbery and has around 25 crime cases registered against her at Juhu. Last year in March she had pelted a stone at a beacon car of a VIP in Vile Parle (east). Taking a humanitarian view of the case, the Vile Parle police did not file a criminal case against her. They instead approached the court and received a court order for admitting her to Thane mental hospital. She was kept there for a few months and had maintained a low profile. However, late last year she again went back to her old habits and was arrested on extorting charges by the Juhu police for trying to extort money from an employee of MLA Ameet Satam of BJP.
On February 29, she was arrested again for stealing materials from an under construction site in Lalubhai compound in Juhu area. The watchman informed the police and a team was sent and the woman was booked for trespassing and stealing materials. She was produced before a magistrate’s court and remanded to police custody for three days.
“Even in police station she harasses us. She has got acquitted in over decade old cases against her, as it is difficult to get evidence in such old cases. Her daughter who is studying in a hostel is going through the gruelling exercise of making rounds of the police station due to her. She was even externed from the city limits but it did not deter her,” said a police official.
