The police have arrested the 40-year-old accused woman, Ranjana Pawaskar, and owner of Bajrang Jeweller, Santosh Jadhav, for taking the ornaments from her as mortgage
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After investigating a house break-in case for seven months, the Taloja police have finally managed to find out that it was the complainant's neighbour who looted jewellery worth Rs 3.90 lakh and set his bedroom on fire before locking the apartment.
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The police have arrested the 40-year-old accused woman, Ranjana Pawaskar, and owner of Bajrang Jeweller, Santosh Jadhav, for taking the ornaments from her as mortgage.
House on fire
According to the police, on the night of January 9, 2018, a neighbour called up complainant Bhalchandra Kadam, who owns a shop at Khanda Colony, and told him that his flat was on fire. Kadam, who was at Khandeshwar, immediately returned home and doused the flames with the help of neighbours. Thereafter, he noticed that the cupboards in his bedroom were open and on checking, he found ornaments and cash worth Rs 3.90 lakh missing. He immediately approached the Taloja police and a case under sections 380 (theft), 454 (house-breaking) and 457 (house-breaking at night) was registered against an unknown person.
After taking the statements of neighbours and checking the footages of the CCTVs near the spot, the cops arrived at the conclusion that someone from the locality was involved in the theft.
On July 30, constable Sachin Tike received a tip-off that Kadam's trusted neighbour Pawaskar, with whom he often left his house keys, had given a necklace to the owner of Bajrang Jewellers on mortgage. The store had further given the necklace on mortgage to Shreeram City Union Finance in New Panvel.
Was envy the reason?
Requesting anonymity, a police officer said, "Ranjana was aware of Kadam's financial condition and was quite envious about it. While going out on January 9, Kadam told her that he would return late. She took advantage of the situation and stole the jewellery from his house."
Speaking to mid-day, Ajay Kumar Landge, senior inspector of Taloja police station, said, "When we showed the necklace to the complainant, he immediately recognised it. Soon after we arrested the neighbour. We have recovered jewellery and cash worth Rs 3.22 lakh. Both the accused were produced in court and sent to police custody."
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