Nagpur: Gold, cash worth Rs 15 lakh stolen from WCL official's house

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Gold ornaments and cash collectively worth more than Rs 15 lakh were stolen from the residence of a senior official of the Western Coalfields Limited (WCL) in Nagpur city of Maharashtra, police told news agency PTI on Wednesday.

The incident took place on August 26 in Ashok Nagar area under the Jaripatka police station limits, they said.

The complainant, Jagdish Bhayyalal Pandole (54), works as a senior personal assistant at the WCL, reported PTI.

"Pandole and his family left their home for Ujjain on a trip on Saturday when the incident occurred. Pandole had deputed a man at his house to ensure the security of his house during their absence. But when the family returned in the wee hours of August 29, they saw the latch of the door was broken. They then found that jewellery and cash worth Rs 15.09 lakh were stolen from their cupboard," an official told PTI.

Pandole immediately lodged a complaint with the police, following which a case was registered, the official told PTI, adding that investigation into the case is on.

Meanwhile, the Nagpur rural police in Maharashtra have arrested a gang of five that stole batteries from mobile tower sites and sold them to another gang for extraction of lithium, an official told PTI on Wednesday.

The police found 82 batteries in the gang's possession. Each battery is worth nearly Rs 90,000, the official told PTI.

The gang targeted the mobile towers of a particular service provider as it uses batteries containing lithium, he said.

The gang sold the batteries to another gang from Delhi that extracted lithium and stole the silvery-white metal to battery manufacturers, the official told PTI.

The five, identified as Kalim, alias Alim Sheikh, Mehboob Sheikh and Najim, alias Aklaq Yusuf Pathan, Aman Mehrajudddin Malik and Sushil Jamunaprasad Shahu, targeted 27 mobile towers in Nagpur rural, Nagpur city and Wardha district, said Superintendent of Police (SP) Vishal Anand, reported PTI.

In another case, the Maharashtra Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) has arrested a security guard at the Nagpur Improvement Trust, a government body, while accepting a bribe of Rs 500 from a contractor, an official told PTI on Wednesday.

(With inputs from PTI)