Packers booked for stealing ₹16 lakh jewellery

The victim had called the packers and movers in August to shift some belonging from her residence in Bandra to her father’s house in Lonavala

Mumbai: Four employees of a packers and movers firm were booked on Thursday for allegedly stealing gold and silver ornaments worth ₹16.15 lakh while shifting a Bandra resident’s belongings to Lonavala.

After returning to Mumbai, she approached the police on September 15 and filed a complaint against the four employees of Max Packers and Movers (Representative photo)

According to the police, the incident occurred on August 9, when the complainant Manasi Kulkarni, a yoga teacher, called Max Packers and Movers for shifting a few household items from residence in Bandra East to her father’s house in Lonavala. On the same day, the company sent four employees, identified as Pappu, Pradeep Kumar, Khan and Ajay to her house.

“Kulkarni travelled to Lonavala along with the packers and movers staff in the tempo. She had taken a bag containing jewellery and important documents with her, which was locked. The driver asked her to keep the bag at the back, where the accused were seated, assuring that it would be safe. She informed them that it contained valuables and requested them to take care of it while she was sitting in the driver’s cabin. On their way to Lonavala in Kalanagar, one of the four men alighted the tempo and when asked, the other three told her that he had some emergency and he had to leave,” said a police officer.

Kulkarni told the police that she had left for Mumbai immediately after the packages were unloaded and kept inside the house. On September 7, when she went back to Lonavala, she saw that the bag’s lock was broken. When she checked, gold and silver ornaments worth ₹16.15 lakh were missing, the officer said.

After returning to Mumbai, she approached the police on September 15 and filed a complaint against the four employees of Max Packers and Movers, claiming that one of the four men who alighted mid way had stolen the ornaments. A case has been registered under Sections 316(2) (criminal breach of trust) and 3(5) (act committed by several persons in furtherance of a common intention) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.