Cops return stolen properties worth ₹3 crore to owners

The police on Tuesday returned stolen properties worth around ₹3 crore to their owners. The stolen articles, including jewellery, mobile phones, laptops, vehicles and cash, were recovered by 21 police stations of west zone of Mumbai police. Police commissioner Vivek Phansalkar handed over the recovered properties to their rightful claimants

Mumbai: The police on Tuesday returned stolen properties worth around ₹3 crore to their owners.

Mumbai, India - February 21, 2023: Mumbai Police Commissioner Vivek Phansalkar, Mumbai Special Police Commissioner Deven Bharti, Satyanarayan Choudhary IPS, Joint Commissioner of Police and Bollywood film producer and director Rohit Shetty during the distribution ceremony on valuables and property to the victims seized and recovered from the accused by the plaintiff to the tune of Rs.2 crore 96 lakh 25 thousand 79 Rupees (Rs.2,962,579/-), organised by the Western Regional Division Police Station, at Vile Parle, in Mumbai, India, on Tuesday, Feb 21, 2023. (Photo by Vijay Bate/HT Photo) (HT PHOTO)

The stolen articles, including jewellery, mobile phones, laptops, vehicles and cash, were recovered by 21 police stations of west zone of Mumbai police. Police commissioner Vivek Phansalkar handed over the recovered properties to their rightful claimants.

Additional police commissioner, West Region, Paramjit Singh Dahiya, said that recovered properties worth ₹2.96 crore were handed over to 187 complainants. “This included gold ornaments worth ₹1,54,81,100 (weighing over 3,000 grams), silver jewellery, diamond pendants, 17 auto rickshaws, 15 two-wheelers, 68 laptops and over 300 mobile phones,” he added.

The event came as a relief for many, especially autorickshaw drivers, who had lost their means of livelihood.

Jogeshwari resident, Rajendra Yadav’s auto was among the recovered vehicles. For the last few months, he had to drive rented autorickshaws or those belonging to his friends. This had drastically cut down his earnings and forced his son to take up a part-time job. Now, Yadav is happy that his son can go back to focusing on his studies.

Harbhajan Singh Sethi, who runs a laptop rental business in Andheri and was conned out of 85 laptops by a man claiming to run an information technology business, was handed over 54 of his recovered laptops.

He said, “The police were very prompt in their action and located all the machines within a couple of days of our complaint being registered, but they needed to go through court proceedings before returning them to me.”

A family from Santacruz called themselves fortunate to have recovered valuables worth over ₹47 lakh. “More important than the monetary value of these things was the fact that they included jewellery belonging to my wife’s mother and some valuables passed down by my grandmother,” the complainant said.

Simran Bhate, a teacher from Borivali, had gifted herself an iPhone from her own savings on her 25th birthday a few months ago. The phone also had pictures of the first self-funded trip she took soon after. She never expected to see it again after it was stolen from Santacruz two months ago. “The phone holds a special place in my heart. I am happy to be holding it again,” she said.

Film director Rohit Shetty, who was a special guest for the event, said it was amazing to see the happy faces, especially those of the auto drivers who got their stolen vehicles back. “Police stations should not be looked upon as scary places by the people. They should see police as family members with whom they can share their problems,” he said.

Expressing gratitude towards the investigating officers at the forefront of these recoveries, the police commissioner said, “Often, our teams go to villages in search of accused where locals turn hostile against them. They have faced physical and verbal assault on such occasions.” However, he said that the Mumbai police have a mantra like Winston Churchill’s war cry, “We shall fight everywhere. We shall not surrender.”