A 35-year-old house help and his accomplice have been arrested by Vile Parle police for allegedly stealing gold and diamond jewellery worth Rs 40.5 lakh from a 73-year-old doctor’s house in the western suburbs.
The arrested house help, Ganesh Tavde, has been stealing one item at a time for the past three months, police said. The case was registered on Friday when the doctor, R Bhat, the complainant in the case, realised that valuables were missing from his bag in his cupboard, police said.
“As soon as the case was registered, a team was sent to his registered address in Bhandup but we could not find him as he had recently shifted to another rented apartment at Ashok Nagar in Bhandup,” said an officer.
The team then went to the address that his brother Vishwanath had provided after which he was taken into custody. During initial inquiry, he confessed to stealing valuables since December 20, 2021, police said.
He would take the valuables and hand them over to his friend, Chandrakant Bhilare, who would help him in selling them, police said.
“Bhilare is a rickshaw driver and after he sold those valuables, he would hand the money to Tavde. They would split the money accordingly,” said another officer.
The police said Bhilare was arrested on Sunday as he was called to Dadar railway station. The investigator also claimed that they believe that another person is involved who further helped them in selling the jewellery, police said.
“None of the stolen valuables has been recovered so far. We are trying to do that,” said an officer.
The two accused have been booked under Section 381 (theft by clerk or servant of property in possession of master) of the Indian Penal Code. They were produced in court and remanded to police custody.