A 17-year-old runaway boy who had been staying with a caterer in Vashi for over six months fled with a bag of gold jewellery worth ₹2.49 lakh on Sunday.
According to the police, the juvenile who had run away from his home in Uttar Pradesh was noticed by a co-passenger in train. The boy told him that he was an orphan and stayed with his uncle and aunt. The aunt tortured him and hence, he fled from their house.
The co-passenger, who was known to the caterer Prakash Bhagwat, called him and asked if he could keep the boy at his place. Mr. Bhagwat agreed to keep him for a few days. On March 10, the boy was brought to Mr. Bhagwat’s house and after a few days, the lockdown was enforced.
The boy started helping Mr. Bhagwat in his business and also gave company to his 14-year-old son. “Mr. Bhagwat left for his home town in Rajasthan with his family and also took the boy there. Over there, the boy borrowed Mr. Bhagwat’s mobile phone frequently claiming that he had to make a call to his friend. Mr. Bhagwat also received calls enquiring about the boy. On asking the caller, Mr. Bhagwat learnt that it was the boy’s elder brother,” assistant police inspector Sachin Dhage from Vashi police station said. The elder brother also revealed that the boy was not an orphan and had failed Class X for the second consecutive time and hence, he fled home when he was confronted.
Mr. Bhagwat told his brother that he would send him back by October 1, and in the last week of September, he came back from Rajasthan.
After the boy ran away with the gold on Sunday, a case of theft was registered at the Vashi police station. The police informed his elder brother and asked him to call them if he contacted him. On realising that the elder brother would not cooperate, the police tracked the call records of the elder brother and found that the juvenile had been constantly calling him from various numbers. The boy was finally traced to a chawl in Jogeshwari (East) where he was hiding.
“We recovered all the stolen jewellery from his possession. He was sent to a juvenile home from where he was released on bail and handed over to the custody of his brother,” Mr. Dhage said.
