Family returns from Diwali break to find home robbed

A senior citizen from Kandivli (West) returned home from a short Diwali holiday to find valuables worth Rs 4.90 lakh stolen from his house.

A senior citizen from Kandivli (West) returned home from a short Diwali holiday to find valuables worth Rs 4.90 lakh stolen from his house.

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Sixty-two-year-old Mahendra Kandar, a chemical factory owner living at Vinayak Co-operative Housing Society located at Nehru Cross Road in Kandivli (West) left with his family for Pune early on Friday morning to spend the Diwali weekend there.

The Kandivli police said when Kandar returned home at around 1am on Monday, he found his house had been broken into and cash and ornamnets from his locker were missing.

The police officers investigating the case, requesting anonymity because they are not authorised to speak to the media, said the thieves broke the main door with a wooden stick and barged into the bedroom.

They then allegedly broke the lock of the steel cupboard in the bedroom and stole Rs 1.50 lakh and silver and gold ornaments.

Kandar registered a police complaint at Kandivli police station at 4.20am on Monday.

Suryakant Ghatge, senior police inspector from the Kandivli police station, said the robbery took place between Friday morning and early Monday early.

Section 454 (house trespass or house breaking in) attracts a minimum punishement of three years that can be extended to 10 years.

Section 457 (breaking in by night) involves a minimum punishment of five years that can be extended to 14 years if it is established that the intention was to commit theft.

“We do not know for sure whether the robbery occurred during the day or at night. That is why we have applied both sections,” said Ghatge.The police have taken finger prints at the apartment and are trying to trace the thieves.