Mumbai: Driver held for Rs 67.80 lakh theft

When a Four Bungalows resident put her cash and jewellery worth Rs 67.80 lakh at the Versova flat of her sister for safekeeping, little did she know that someone was keeping a watch on her movements and that the valuables would get stolen soon.

Police investigation revealed the woman's driver himself had stolen the property using duplicate keys. The police have managed to recover entire stolen property from the accused' residence.

According to additional commissioner of police, west region, Milind Bharambe, on October 16, Nafisa Tarwala, 57, a resident of Menaka Nalanda building, lodged a complaint of theft. Tarwala looks after her husband' real estate business.

"She had kept cash and jewellery worth Rs67.80 lakh at her sister Nazma Sorwala's house in Payal Apartment off Yari Road a fortnight before the theft. She wanted to buy property in Panvel and, hence, she was accumulating funds. Sorwala resides in the United States and her house remains locked," said Bharambe.

"On October 13, Tarwala had seen that the cash and jewellery were safe. Three days later, on October 16, she went back to the house as she had forgotten her school leaving certificate there. That's when she discovered the robbery. The main door's latch was intact, but that of the bedroom was broken," said deputy commissioner, zone IX, Satyanarayan Chaudhary.

"When we questioned Tarwala's driver Rupesh Paswan, 33, he admitted to having stolen the booty using a duplicate key of Sorwala's flat that was with Tarwala. The entire booty was recovered from Paswan's residence in Malad. He has been arrested and booked on the charge of housebreaking theft," said senior inspector of Versova police station Arundhati Rane.