The NRI Coastal police recently arrested a 50-year-old woman and her 17-year-old son for stealing the jewellery of the mother of assistant commissioner of Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) after spiking her drink. The accused, Manju Sanjay Bhore and her son, had planned the burglary to pay off loans taken from people in Dharavi.
Befriended victim
The accused visited the victim, Sunanda Waghmare (75), a resident of Dattavilla building in Shahbaaz village, Belapur, between 4 p.m. and 5 p.m. on August 22. Ms. Bhore was a hawker who traded utensils for old clothes and was a regular visitor to Shahbaaz village.
A police officer said, “Ms. Bhore noticed that the victim was old and had been living alone and would mostly keep the door of her house open. She befriended Ms. Bhore and would chat with her every time she visited Dattavilla building.”
Ms. Bhore and her family, who earlier lived in Dharavi, had fled to Turbhe as their debts increased. When their landlord in Turbhe found out about their debts, he asked them to vacate the house. Later, they moved to another rented house in Turbhe. The official said, “They were desperate to get rid of their debts and planned to rob a senior citizen. On the day of the incident, she asked her son to accompany her.”
As usual, Ms. Bhore started to talk to Ms. Waghmare, who later wanted to have some water. Ms. Bhore went to the kitchen, spiked the water with sleeping pills and offered it to Ms. Waghmare, who fell asleep in no time.
Ms. Bhore and her son then removed her jewellery, and fled after locking the door from outside. Nearly 48 hours after the incident, Ms. Waghmare woke up and found herself weak and drowsy. She managed to bang the door from inside, and the neighbours called her son Prakash Waghmare, assistant commissioner of NMMC’s licence department. Mr. Waghmare then reached the house, broke open the door and found his mother with a bleeding ear.
In his complaint, Mr. Waghmare had mentioned that the incident took place on August 23, but on verifying the CCTV footage, it was confirmed that it occurred on August 22. The mother and son were nabbed from Turbhe and the jewellery was recovered from a jeweller with whom they had mortgaged it, the officer said. The police are probing from where the duo managed to buy the pills.
‘First-time criminals’
The ornaments weighed nearly seven tolas, and the two claimed to be first-time criminals. While Ms. Bhore has been remanded in police custody till Friday, her son will be sent to a juvenile home. They have been charged under Sections 394 (voluntarily causing hurt in committing robbery), 452 (house trespass after preparation for hurt, assault or wrongful restraint) and 342 (wrongful confinement) of the Indian Penal Code.
