Gold thieves busy in Ahmedabad before year ends

Fifty-two-year-old Bansi Patel, a resident of Ahskarbaug Society in Maninagar area, had no idea that he would be seeing all the gold he had accumulated over the years for the last time on Thursday. In the largest ever burglary reported in Maninagar, 143 tolas of gold were stolen from his residence.

Patel, the owner of Lodal chemical factory at Vatva GIDC, along with his wife and nephew had gone to Satellite to attend the wedding of his business associate's son in the afternoon.

When the Patels returned to their residence later in the night, they noticed that the back door of the bungalow had been broken open. That is when Patel realised that his house had been burgled. He then informed the Maninagar police who reached to spot to investigate.

Patel then lodged a complaint with the police stating that 143 tolas of gold worth Rs12.7 lakh as well as a Blackberry phone worth Rs10,000 had been stolen. The burgled gold items include 10 bangles, weighing 26 tolas; 12 jewellery sets, weighing 35 tolas; 15 rings, weighing eight tolas; earrings weighing eight tolas as well as a six-tola mangalsutra along with other small valuables collectively weighing 143 tolas.