Mumbai: Family suspects 'djinn' of stealing gold; police uncovers truth

The cash and gold jewellery recovered from the arrested accused

A Byculla-based family often found pieces of gold jewellery missing from their home over the past year, but did not file a complaint with the police. Reason: they thought it was the doings of a djinn. They even decided to sell their Rs 3.75-crore home for as little as Rs 1.5 crore and were looking for prospective buyers. That was until September 24, when they found Rs 10 lakh missing. This time the family promptly went to the police. Reason: djinns don't take cash.

The Byculla police have arrested three accused, including the nephew of the complainant, in the case and recovered cash and gold jewellery worth Rs 40 lakh from Surat in Gujarat. They also found the involvement of a minor in the case, but she was let off after warning.

Hussain Patrawala, the nephew

According to the police, the complainant, Abdul Kadar Godhawala, approached them saying that Rs 10 lakh cash and gold jewellery worth R4 lakh were stolen from his home. Byculla police filed an FIR on September 26 and started investigation.

Investigating officer Inspector Suhash Mane said, "When we received the complaint, the complainant had told us that only R14 lakh worth of cash and gold jewellery was stolen from the residence. But during the course of investigation, the complainant told us that they had found gold missing on several occasions earlier too."

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"When we asked why he hadn't approach the police, he said he believed there was djinn in the house which was stealing the gold. He further said that this is what is believed in their religion. However, due to past incidents of thefts, we suspected that someone from the inside was involved in the crime," he added.

Inspector Mane said, "We found that Godhawala's nephew Hussain Patrawala regularly comes to Mumbai. We also found a lot of evidence that he stole the gold and the cash." Police have arrested Patrawala and his two accomplices - Hussain Bombaywala and Abbas Attari from Surat and recovered Rs 10 lakh cash and gold jewellery worth Rs 30 lakh from them.

Abbas Atari, one of the arrested accused in the case

"The accused Hussain Patrawala is the nephew of the complainant. Hussain is well-settled but he lost a big amount to gambling. This prompted him to steal gold from his uncle's residence. He used to send his 13-year-old sister to steal the same," said a police officer, adding that the minor was let off with a warning.

A cop said, "Godhawala is scared of djinn and hence was considering selling off his new flat worth Rs 3.75 crore for a mere Rs 1.5 crore. We are now guiding the family and telling them not to believe in such mythology. We have handed over the recovered money and jewellery to them."

Rs 40L
Worth of cash and jewellery recovered from the accused