Thieves hit seven Pune homes on Lakshmi Puja night, escape with valuables worth over Rs 64 lakh

Diwali celebrations ended in loss for several Pune families after thieves struck seven homes on the night of Lakshmi Puja, Sunday, November 8. Gold jewellery, cash and other valuables worth more than Rs 64 lakh were taken in all.

The thieves appear to have counted on a familiar custom: families leave cash and ornaments in the puja room overnight after the ritual. With the valuables lying in the open, the thieves did not need to hunt for keys or force open a locked cupboard. Complaints have come from Hadapsar, Katraj, Mohammadwadi, Ashtapur near Lonikand, Sukhsagar Nagar in Bibwewadi, Kondhwa and Kale Padal.

The largest loss was reported from a bungalow in Hadapsar, where goods worth Rs 47 lakh were stolen. The complaint at Hadapsar police station says the family lives in a housing society opposite Annasaheb Magar College. On the evening of November 8, they placed Rs 12 lakh in cash in the ground-floor puja room, along with gold jewellery that included a Lakshmi haar, a necklace, a gantan, a mal (chain), earrings and rings. Once the puja was over, they left everything where it was and went to bed.

Around midnight, unidentified thieves slid open a glass window on the ground floor, got into the room and took the gold and the cash. Sub-Inspector Shubham Shinde is investigating.

In Santoshnagar, Katraj, a flat in Hanuman Complex was targeted. The family had kept gold jewellery and Rs 10,000 in cash in the puja room, and the loss is put at Rs 1.68 lakh. On the morning of Monday, November 9, the main door of the flat was found open and the valuables were gone. A single thief seems to have walked in quietly, picked up the items and left. The case is registered at Ambegaon police station.

In Sukhsagar Nagar, Bibwewadi, gold jewellery and cash worth Rs 3.28 lakh kept in the puja room of a house were stolen. Bharati Vidyapeeth police are looking into the case, and Sub-Inspector Surve is the investigating officer.

In Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Nagar, Kondhwa, gold jewellery worth Rs 1.82 lakh was taken from a puja room. An elderly woman, a senior citizen, lodged the complaint at Kondhwa police station, and Sub-Inspector Ramesh Shelar is investigating.

Two separate cases are registered at Kalepadal police station, which covers the Kale Padal area of Hadapsar. In the first, a local woman complained that gold jewellery worth Rs 1.82 lakh was stolen from the puja room of her house. Police personnel Pravin Kalbhor is investigating. The second theft took place near Mohammadwadi Road, where jewellery worth Rs 7.34 lakh, kept for Lakshmi Puja, was stolen. Assistant Police Inspector Amit Shete is investigating on a woman's complaint.

The Ashtapur case differed from the other six, which all involved open puja rooms. At a bungalow in Ashtapur village on the Pune-Ahilyanagar road, thieves struck on the day of Lakshmi Puja itself and broke the lock of a cupboard. They took Rs 50,000 in cash, gold jewellery, a two-wheeler and a car key, and the total loss is estimated at Rs 2.65 lakh. The complaint is registered at Lonikand police station, and Assistant Inspector Gajanan Kagane is investigating.

Police have asked residents to stay alert through the festival season. They advise against leaving large sums of cash and costly jewellery unattended overnight in open puja rooms. A senior Pune police officer said: "Every year we tell people not to leave gold and large amounts of cash overnight in open puja rooms after Lakshmi Puja. During festivals, thieves look especially for ground-floor windows and unlocked doors, because they know the valuables are lying in the open."