New Delhi: He was enraged by his removal as coach of a football team. So the person man allegedly stole the mobile phones of club members from a dressing room in Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium. However, the actions landed him in jail, police, police said Wednesday. The former football coach – Sekhar Pathak is a resident of Pandav Nagar locality here. The football coach allegedly stole mobile phones of the members of Delhi United Football Club (DUFC), they said.
The police received information march 13 that 12 mobile phones and wallets, containing around Rs 10,000, belong to a football team has been stolen. Further investigation revealed that one dressing room was allotted to the football team. All the players had kept their belongings in its lockers, police said.
However, after finishing their match, when they came back, they found the lockers ransacked. Their mobile phones as well as wallets were missing, an officer said.
“The police checked the footage of all CCTV cameras in the stadium and also kept the stolen phones on surveillance. The security as well as management staff of the stadium was thoroughly interrogated. They were asked whether they had seen any suspicious person coming in or out from dressing room. But they did not,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (south) Atul Kumar Thakur said.
After couple of months, one of the stolen phones was found to be switched on. The police apprehended the person who had the phone and interrogated him. The man told the police that Pathak had sold him the phone. However, he had returned it back to him as the former coach had failed to produce the original receipt of the phone.
Later, Pathak was arrested from his house. Nine mobile phones were recovered from his possession, the DCP said.
Pathak was a district level football player. He played for almost six years from 2004 to 2010 from the Lions Club Football Team. He started his career as a football coach in March 2011. Players at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium hired him as a coach. He continued in the position from 2011 to 2013, police said.
In 2013, however, one of the other coaches complained against Pathak for not being punctual and sincere towards his duty. He was promptly removed from his position of coach, the DCP informed.
Later, Pathak also started his own academy – Shubham Football Academy – at Preet Vihar. However, it did not do well and he had to shut it down, police said. Pathak was familiar with the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium and its dressing rooms. So he committed the crime to take revenge, police added.
