Couple held for misappropriating neighbour’s jewellery worth ₹23L

Elderly couple from Karnataka arrested in Vasai-Virar for fleeing with ₹23 lakh worth of gold jewellery borrowed for a wedding, traced to Karnataka.

Vasai-Virar: The police on Wednesday arrested an elderly couple from Karnataka for fleeing with gold jewellery worth ₹23 lakh which they borrowed from their neighbours in Vasai-Virar for a wedding but did not return the same.

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According to the Achole police, on April 20 they received a complaint from a resident of Neminath Tower in Evershine City in Vasai-Virar, claiming that her neighbour had borrowed her jewellery for a wedding in their family, but had not returned it.

She approached the police and filed the complaint after she learnt that the couple had sold their flat and were not returning. The officers said that on the complaint of Sunanda Kukdaal, they registered a case of theft and were trying to trace the couple who were identified as Anju, 56, and her husband Suresh Reddy, 67.

“The couple had been staying in Evershine City since the past few months and established friendship with their neighbours- Kukdaal and her family. On April 10, Anju approached Sunanda and sought to borrow her gold jewellery, worth ₹23 lakh for a family wedding which she promised to return within three days,” said a police officer from Achole police station.

When Anju did not return even after 10 days, Sunanda got suspicious and began calling her and failed to get any response.

The Achole police traced the couple to Gandhinagar in Karnataka where they had been staying under assumed identities. The police officers searched their rented apartment and found cash and jewellery worth ₹11 lakh.

Upon questioning, the Reddy couple confessed having cheated Sunanda and a few other friends and neighbours where they had stayed in the past. “We are now finding out where the couple sold the remaining ornaments and since when had they been robbed from their acquaintances,” said a police officer from Achole police station.