Woman flees with in-laws’ jewellery worth ₹10.22 lakh

Police in Mumbai are searching for a woman accused of stealing jewellery worth INR1.02m ($13,750) from her in-laws' home. The family suspects that the 34-year-old woman may have eloped with a neighbour, and claim that all the jewellery was kept in the safe in the woman's room. The police have registered a complaint and are investigating the incident.

MUMBAI: The Borivali police are on the lookout for a 34-year-old woman who has allegedly fled with jewellery worth ₹10.22 lakh from her in-laws’ house. The family suspects that the accused might have eloped with her boyfriend — a neighbour.

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The police officers said that on Monday, Praful Narsibhai Parmar, 33, a resident of Ganesh Galli in Borivali West lodged a complaint stating that his elder sister-in-law has made away with the jewellery of his mother and wife, which was kept in a safe in the accused woman’s room.

On Monday, the accused, Mona, had left the house on the pretext of buying vegetables and had carried along a bagful of clothes saying she wanted to give the dresses to a tailor for alteration, the police said.

However, when Mona did not return by evening, the family members checked Mona’s cupboard, and found out that she had taken with her all the 13 pieces of jewellery they had kept in her safe, said the police.

According to the police, the Parmars, who are carpenters, stay in a joint family. Praful told the police that his two brothers and parents stay in a three storeyed house in Dhanashree Society in Borivali East. While the parents stay on the first floor, Praful stays on the second floor and his elder brother Sanjay, 36, and his wife Mona stay on the third floor.

Praful and his wife are estranged and stayed separately for the last one year, but all her jewellery was with her in-laws. “The three daughters-in-law had kept all their jewellery, worth ₹10.22 lakh, in the safe in my mother’s cupboard since my wedding a few years ago,” Praful said in his statement to the police.

“However, four days back, the safe’s lock broke after which the family was concerned. To keep the ornaments safe, they decided to keep all the jewellery in a safe in the room of his elder sister-in-law Mona as she stayed on the third floor and was a homemaker,” he added.

Police officials said that on Monday, Mona left house on the pretext of buying vegetables and had made away with the jewellery kept in her safe.

Based on the complaint filed by Praful, the Borivali police have booked Mona for theft and breach of trust under section 379 and 406 of the Indian Penal Code. “We are trying to trace the location of Mona and Soni to recover the stolen gold ornaments of the Parmar family,” said a police officer from the Borivali police station.