Gold jewellery weighing 1.26 kg, ₹5 lakh and some diamond-studded ornaments of a Non-Resident Indian family were stolen from Godavari Express, the police said on Thursday.
The NRI’s wife Manikya Vani and his mother boarded the train at Rajahmandry at around 8.40 p.m. on Wednesday. Ms. Vani went to Rajahmandry to attend her brother’s house-warming ceremony along with her husband and son. While other family members returned to the city a couple of days earlier, they started on Wednesday night.
“Both the women slept after 10.30 p.m. Ms. Vani woke up after 3.40 a.m. and was awake till the train arrived at Secunderabad on Thursday morning,” Secunderabad railway DSP Rajendra Prasad said. They were carrying six bags.
Ms. Vani grew suspicious as she felt the suitcase, in which she kept the jewellery and cash, was lighter. “I immediately checked the suitcase and realised the jewellery and cash were stolen,” she was quoted as saying by the investigators.
Police found the passengers had tied the suitcase to the berth (they travelled in AC-II tier) with a chain but forgot to lock the suitcase. “It is possible the thieves opened the unlocked suitcase and made off with jewellery and cash while the two women were asleep,” Mr. Prasad said.
They suspect the theft could have been committed between Eluru and Kazipet stations. Efforts were on to collect video footages during these hours to identify suspects. Secunderabad railway police registered a theft case.
