Man steals safe with cash and jewels worth ₹40 lakh from friend’s house, arrested

MUMBAI: A 22-year-old man and his accomplice were arrested for stealing a safety locker with ₹5 lakh cash and ₹35 lakh in jewellery from a friend's home.

MUMBAI: The police on Monday arrested a 22-year-old man and his accomplice for allegedly stealing a safety locker containing ₹5 lakh cash and diamond jewellery worth ₹35 lakh from a friend’s house in Mira Road. The two accused have been remanded in police custody till Friday.

Man steals safe with cash and jewels worth ₹40 lakh from friend’s house, arrested

The accused, identified as Kailas Bhagraj Patel, hails from Jodhpur in Rajasthan and had come to Mumbai on the pretext of job trials.

The complainant Nutan Surjit Dheer, 60, a resident of Mira Road East, said that Patel was her son’s friend and was staying with them while appearing for job interviews.

According to the police, on June 15, Patel said that he wanted to return to Jodhpur and left at 10:30 pm while Dheer and her son were attending a satsang in the neighbourhood. On June 20, Dheer noticed that the safe was missing and approached the Kashimira police. Based on her complaint, the police registered a case against Patel under section 305(2) (theft) and 3(5) (common intention) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.

“On checking CCTV footage of the building, we found that when Patel was leaving the premises on June 15, he took the safe with him,’ said a police officer. He was seen getting into a car outside the complex. However, the number plate of the car was not visible, he added.

Rajendra Kamble, senior police inspector of the Kashimira police station said, “We traced Patel’s mobile phone location and found that he was at a friend’s house in Kandivali.” He added that the friend, Mayur Rajkumar Ralhan, 34, helped him execute the plan. “We have arrested the two and recovered the stolen jewellery worth ₹35 lakh. The duo had already spent the stolen cash on clothes, mobile phones and more,” added an officer from Kashimira police station.