Mumbai: Dindoshi police recovers gold jewellery worth Rs 5 lakh from rats

Sundari along with the police team that recovered her belongings. Pic/Dindoshi Police

A 45-year-old woman, heavily in debt was left in tears after Mumbai Police recovered her jewellery and handed it over to her on Wednesday. The jewellery was recovered after the Dindoshi police got hold of a single clue- a moving plastic bag seen in the CCTV footage at a garbage dumping site in the area, later leading the police to a nearby gutter where the bag was seen choked in a rat hole.

According to the police, On June 13, the complainant, Sundari Planibel, resident of Aarey Colony who works as a domestic help in Goregaon's Gokuldham Colony had brought along her 10 tola gold jewellery worth Rs. 5 lakhs to mortgage it in a bank. After finishing her work, while she was leaving for the bank, her employer gave her 'Kadak Pav' (bread) to eat which she had kept in the same bag that contained her jewellery. While walking towards the bank, she saw a woman and a child, thinking the child would be hungry, she gave the bag of bread to the child and left. Upon reaching the bank she realised she had given the child the jewellery too.

Describing the incident police said, Sundari immediately rushed to the same spot where she had met the child and the woman but could not find them anywhere and then reached the police station. She explained how she was in debt and her jewellery was her last hope to get rid of the loans she had taken from people who had been contacting her frequently.

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"While narrating the matter to the police, she (Sundari) was in tears. She was constantly saying that she had no other way to pay off the loans and that people whom she owe the money were told that their money would be paid off on June 13," said a police officer.

After she narrated her ordeal, the detection staff of the Dindoshi police tried to trace the woman and child, Sundari had handed over the bag of jewellery, police said.

"We reached the spot but could not find the woman and the child there. We began to enquiry about her and learned that the two were residents of a nearby slum and sell utensils. We reached the slum and found that she had shifted from there some days ago. We then found out about her present residence which was close to her previous residence and then reached out to her. On questioning, she said that since her child and she did not want to eat the Pav, she had dumped it in a nearby garbage dump. Now, the only fear was if the garbage van would have cleared the site, the recovery would have been impossible," said an officer from Dindoshi police.

Assistant Police Inspector, Suraj Raut of Dindoshi police who was part of the detection team that made the hundred percent recovery told mid-day.com, "We reached the spot where the bag was dumped and checked almost each and every bag there but could not find anything. A CCTV camera was spotted nearby and we checked the footage carefully, in which a bag was seen moving. We analysed that the bag containing jewellery and eatables cannot move to distance with wind and concluded that it could be a rat that may have dragged the bag somewhere close to the garbage dump spot."

He said, "We began to check the area and spotted a gutter next to the spot. Our team while having a look found a wastewater hole in the gutter where the bag was minutely visible. On checking this bag we found the jewellery in it which was later handed over to the complainant."