The Dindoshi police arrested a woman on September 8, for allegedly selling her husband’s jewellery and valuables to send money to a social media friend, before filing a false burglary complaint. Officers said she pawned the ornaments and transferred the money to an online friend. The valuables have since been recovered.
Case details
A 53-year-old Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) employee from Goregaon approached the Dindoshi police after jewellery and valuables worth Rs 3.3 lakh went missing from his house. In his statement, he said that on August 23, he discussed painting their home for Ganeshotsav with his wife and called a painter. That night, he kept gold ornaments and other valuables in a steel box.
On August 25, at around 1 am, he, his wife, and their children slept upstairs while he locked the main door. The next morning, around 10.20 am, he noticed the door was open. On checking the steel box, he found the lid broken and jewellery missing. After searching the house and asking neighbours, he could not find the ornaments and lodged a complaint at Dindoshi police station. Police registered an FIR under sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). The probe was led by PSI Ajeet Desai and his team, under ACP Dattatre Dhole and senior inspector Mahendra Shinde.
“We checked CCTV footage from nearby areas but found no suspect. On inspecting the complainant’s house, we grew suspicious and asked him to check with family and acquaintances, but he insisted on filing an FIR,” said a Dindoshi police officer. Investigators later analysed the family’s mobile numbers and found a common contact with whom the complainant’s wife and daughter often spoke. When called, the 20-year-old man said the complainant’s wife once gave him jewellery to keep, later took it back, and then asked him again to hold more ornaments, which he refused.
Police then examined her phone and bank account, which showed frequent contact with many numbers and several deposits and transfers. When questioned, she confessed. According to police, she admitted stealing jewellery from the house, selling it, and sending the money to a social media friend. The man had convinced her he had sent her a parcel of jewellery, supposedly seized by Customs at Delhi airport. He told her to deposit money to release it. Believing him, she sold her husband’s ornaments and transferred nearly Rs 3.3 lakh.
To cover up, she broke the door latch and forced open the steel box to stage a burglary. Police also noted that in 2018, a theft case was registered at the same house, but it remains unsolved. During questioning, the woman mocked the police, saying, “You couldn’t solve the 2018 case, how will you solve this one?” and even challenged them. However, after her arrest and the recovery of the jewellery, she appeared “deeply embarrassed,” an officer said. She was produced before the Borivli Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court on September 8 and sent to judicial custody.
