Three home-cleaning staff held for stealing jewellery worth Rs 12 lakh from Malad flat

A 52-year-old woman from Malad West who booked a home-cleaning service through an online app for Diwali cleaning has lost jewellery worth about Rs 12 lakh. The workers who came to clean her house are accused of stealing gold and silver ornaments. Malad police arrested three accused within a few days through technical investigation. Police say the entire stolen property has been recovered.

The woman had booked the service on an app called "Home Triangle" for cleaning ahead of Diwali. Four workers came to her house under the booking and left after finishing the work. The next day, when she checked the jewellery kept in the bedroom cupboard, she was shocked.

A 50-gram gold necklace, a 10-gram mangalsutra, a gold biscuit and a 500-gram silver brick were missing from the cupboard. Their total value is put at about Rs 12 lakh. The distraught woman went straight to Malad police station and filed a theft complaint against unknown thieves.

After the complaint, a Malad police team gathered details of the workers who had come to clean, based on technical investigation. Police found that the accused kept switching off their mobile phones and were hiding in different places, which deepened police suspicion.

Sub-inspector Amar Shinde of Malad police station and the crime detection team took two of the accused into custody from the Nalasopara, Vasai and Palghar areas. The main accused was caught from Boisar. According to police, intensive questioning revealed that Satyam Rajesh Shukla (26), Anish Brijbhushan Chaurasia (18) and Pawan Omprakash Dhiwar alias Rahul Gaud (26) had jointly planned the theft.

Police have arrested all three. They said 100 per cent of the stolen property has been recovered from them. A case has been registered at Malad police station under Sections 305(a) and 3(5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.