Man held for ‘stealing’ gold worth Rs 20 lakh from fashion designer

According to police, the accused, Guddu Mahato, stole the money to renovate his house in Bihar for his marriage.

An officer from Malabar Hill police station said, “Mahato was working at the complainant’s house for the past ten years. However, as the accused wanted to renovate his house, he started stealing from the complainant’s residence.” Over the course of a few months, he stole gold ornaments and subsequently left the job in February, said police.

However in the first week of March, the complainant realised that some of the gold ornaments were missing from her house after which the 44-year-old fashion designer lodged a complainta at the Malabar Hill police station. The complainant said that ornaments worth more than Rs 20 lakh were stolen.

“Through technical analysis, we came to know about Mahanto and when we inquired about him with the complainant, she told us that he has worked with her in the past for ten years,” said an officer. Later, the police scrutinised his call data record when they came to know that the accused had traveled to his native place Darbhanga in a flight.

An officer said, “He earns around Rs 12,000 a month and as we came to know that he has traveled in a flight then we started suspecting him. A team was sent to Darbhanga after which he was detained and brought to Mumbai.”

During questioning, the accused confessed to the crime. “He was arrested and we have managed to recover Rs 17 lakh from his house,” said an officer.