50L diamond recovered from Bandra month after 1.2cr theft at Alipore bizman’s house
Times of India | 17 January 2025
Kolkata: Last month, the Chetla Police had arrested 11 people — four of them working as maids, caregivers and cooks — for stealing jewellery and other costly items worth crores from a businessman's residence on Raja Santosh Roy Road in Alipore. Despite the recoveries, the cops could not trace the Rs 50 lakh worth diamond jewel the family valued the most.Saif Ali Khan Health Update'Still trying to process': Kareena's first reaction after husband stabbed'Attacker was in son Jeh's room': Saif Ali Khan's staff shares shocking detailsSaif Ali Khan attacked: 20 police teams formed to search for accusedNow, after a chase that lasted over a month, they finally arrested the man from Girgaum and recovered the jewel from Mumbai.
The accused, identified as Bharat Bhogilal Shah (43), has been taken into police custody. "We arrested Shah from his residence at Girgaum under Gamdevi PS in zone 2 of Mumbai Police," said DC (South) Priyobrata Roy.
The sleuths were alerted when the diamond merchant from Mumbai started travelling by local train instead of using his car.
Meanwhile, another police team raided Metiabruz in search of stolen jewellery early Tuesday morning. A gold trader named Santosh Karmakar was arrested, and stolen gold jewellery worth about Rs 70,000 was recovered from him.
During the investigation, police found that around 10 servants, including maids, cooks and drivers, were stealing various items from the house separately. The nanny responsible for looking after the child in the house had access to the treasures inside the locker and became the chief accused.
This woman, Jhuma Das, meticulously planned and repeatedly stole jewellery from the locker, hiding it in a lunchbox for smuggling. To avoid suspicion, she replaced the stolen items with identical fake jewellery. Eventually, the police team arrested 11 people, including Das. Among the arrested were several gold traders.
During the interrogation of the arrested individuals, a person named Debraj was apprehended. During questioning, he confessed that the expensive diamond was sold to Shah for Rs 22.2 lakh in the diamond market at ‘Bandra Kurla Complex'.
In search of the diamond, the police raided Shah's office in Mumbai but did not find him there. He was not at the flat either. His car was parked in the garage. The police officials learned that instead of using his car, he was travelling by train from Marine Lines station near his home to Bandra station and then walking to his office. The cops followed him to his Bandra office. When they opened his safe, they found the diamond wrapped in a velvet cloth. Shah is being brought to Kolkata.