8 held from Rajasthan for thefts at event near Mumbai; jewellery worth Rs 50 lakh recovered

Thane, May 13

The Maharashtra police have arrested eight people, including women, from Rajasthan for allegedly stealing jewellery from people at a religious discourse on the outskirts of Mumbai and recovered valuables worth Rs 50 lakh from them, an official said on Saturday.

A two-day event was held at Mira Road in March and was attended by nearly 1.5 lakh people, he said.

During and after the programme, police received 61 complaints about theft of 990 grams of gold jewellery and registered four first information reports (FIRs), he said.

Four teams worked on various inputs, including footage of CCTV cameras on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad highway before zeroing on on eight suspects, most from Alwar district of Rajasthan, said senior inspector Aviraj Kurhade of Crime Branch (Unit I), Kashimira, Mira Bhayandar-Vasai Virar (MBVV) police.

The official said the teams arrested the suspects recently and recovered 878 gm of jewellery worth nearly Rs 50 lakh from them.

The recovered jewellery was returned to the complainants by MBVV police chief Madhukar Pandey at a function on Friday, he added.