9-yr-old chases trio who stole family jewellery

Seeing her mother’s state and the collective pandemonium, Harshita, a Class IV student, who was in her school uniform, with the schoolbag and water bottle still strapped to her, ran behind the thieves, loudly shouting ‘chor chor’ to garner the neighbourhood’s attention

Thane:

Thane, India - December , 26, 2022: 9-yr-old Harshita Pande chases trio who stole family jewellery , India, on,Monday, December, 26, 2022. ( Praful Gangurde / HT Photo)

Incensed at the sight of her mother getting beaten by thieves, a perky nine-year-old braveheart from Chitalsar chased them down the street as they were fleeing with 120 grams of gold from their house. Passersby hesitated to help, as one of the three had a scythe in his hand.

At 5:30 pm, on December 22, Sushma Pande (36), a resident of Sai Shraddha cooperative housing society, in Dharmaveer Nagar, Thane, asked her 12-year-old twin daughters to set out for their tuition classes. She then left to fetch her nine-year-old daughter Harshita from school. Thereafter, the twins locked the door of their second floor flat and left for their classes.

When Sushma returned with her daughter, she found the house unlocked. To her shock, she found three men inside. “Before I could say anything, one of them pushed me badly and I fell. Yet, I managed to grab one of them by the leg. He had a koyta (scythe) in his hand. He pushed me so badly that I fell off the staircase and helplessly saw them make away with my jewellery in one of their bags,” said Sushma.

Seeing her mother’s state and the collective pandemonium, Harshita, a Class IV student, who was in her school uniform, with the schoolbag and water bottle still strapped to her, ran behind the thieves, loudly shouting ‘chor chor’ to garner the neighbourhood’s attention. “She ran fast after them till the main chowk of our area, but no one came forward to intercept the accused, perhaps because they were armed. She lost them eventually, as they sped away in a rickshaw,” Sushma added.

Harshita chased the thieves for around one-and-a-half kilometers, unable to bear the sight of her mother in pain. She later shared the details with the Chitalsar police and the CCTV grab captured the chase.

“When I asked one of the neighbours to help, I was told to stay away as the thieves had weapons in their hand,” said Harshita. “But then I couldn’t think any further and ran behind the accused. When I started shouting for help on the street, pointing to them, two of the accused held a passerby walking ahead of them and beat him up. He did this to misguide people. I ran till they got into the rickshaw.”

She wishes she had a vehicle to chase them and hopes the accused will be arrested and punished soon, “as they beat my mother, who has been in great pain since the last three days and has not been able to stand and cook for us”.

Senior police inspector, Girish Gonde, of Chitalsar, Manpada, police station, said, “Our team has identified the accused with the help of CCTV footage. The trio is wanted in several cases. We hope to arrest them soon.”