Panvel City police have arrested three men for stealing ₹46.70 lakh in cash and 20 currency notes of 10 Saudi Riyals from the safe of a trust.
The accused have been identified as Ijaz Hussain Jalal (23), nephew of the trust’s president; Afan Ahmed Shaikh (31), a clerk of the trust; and Akib Dilawar Pinzari (33), a driver belonging to the trust.
Ahlaj Mohammad Mustafa Yakub Baig, the trustee, handed over ₹46.70 lakh in cash to Arjun Raut (65), secretary of the trust, before leaving for Makkah Madina on November 26, 2017. Mr. Raut then kept the cash in the safe along with the other cash and valuables belonging to the trust. The theft was committed on December 6, 2017.
Police Sub Inspector Santosh Ugalmugale said, “On December 10, when Mr. Baig returned from his trip, he but did not enquire about the cash and so did not learn about the theft.
“On December 23, he left for Baghdad for another pilgrimage and came back on January 2. On January 4, he asked the secretary for the cash. When Mr. Raut opened the safe of the cupboard, they found the cash and valuables missing.”
An inside job
Panvel city police began interrogating the staff of the trust after Mr. Raut registered a case of theft on January 6. Mr. Ugalmugale said, “Since the cupboard was not broken open, we suspected the theft to be committed by an insider. While interrogating the staff, we found some Saudi Riyals in the possession of the accused.
“They later confessed to the crime. The accused had easy access to the keys of the cupboard and stole the valuables. They later also stole the digital video recorder of the CCTV cameras.”
The police later found the digital video recorder completely damaged in a drain and no footage could be retrieved.
The police have recovered a camera worth ₹53,000 that the accused Jalal bought using the stolen cash. Valuables worth ₹1.50 lakh has also been recovered.
