A man who worked as a football coach in the national capital turned a thief as he stole the mobile phones of the Delhi United Football Club team. The man had been fired from the position of coach in 2013.

The mobile phones had been stolen from the dressing room at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium (JLN) during the Delhi Football League 2020. Allegedly, the accused wanted to take revenge for his sacking.

The coach was identified as Shekhar Pathak. Pathak turned to theft as he was miffed at his removal that took place in 2013 and wanted to take revenge for the same.

Reportedly, on March 13, the Delhi United Football Club team was playing a match in the Delhi Football League 2020. During this time, a dressing room had been allotted to the team along with cabins where they kept their phones and other valuables.

When the team returned to the dressing room after the match, the players noticed that it had been ransacked. The Indian Express reported that along with 12 mobile phones, cash worth Rs 10,000 was also missing.

After the incident, the Lodhi Colony police registered a case and launched an investigation. The police scanned the CCTV footage of the stadium and put the stolen mobile phones of technical surveillance. One of the stolen phones was switched on during this time and the cops tracked it.

The man using the phone said that Pathak had sold it to him. The police conducted a raid at Pathak’s home and recovered 9 out of 12 phones. DCP (South) Atul Kumar Thakur said, “In 2011, he was hired by the stadium, where he worked till 2013, after which he was removed over complaints from another coach about his punctuality and sincerity.”