Chances of getting back your valuables left behind in a taxi or an auto are grim nowadays, however, when Tukaram Parshuram Kadam got a call from the Navghar police station saying that they had found the lost bag of his wife containing clothes and gold ornaments worth Rs. 2.5 lakh, he was joyfully surprised.
According to the police, Tukaram Kadam who is a resident of Kasturi Park in the Navghar Road area of Bhayandar (east) had registered a complaint that his wife had lost a bag containing expensive clothes and ornaments worth around Rs. 2.5 lakh on the day of their daughter’s wedding ceremony on December 11, 2020.
The woman had hired an auto-rickshaw to reach the marriage hall in the Jesal Park area of Bhayandar (east). She got down from the auto-rickshaw, but forgot to take the bag along. She realized this only after the auto had left the scene. After an unsuccessful attempt to find the auto in the vicinity, Tukaram rushed to the Navghar police station.
However, as most passengers normally would, her wife too had not noted down the registration number of the vehicle, she had hired. Often criticized for being rude and turning away complainants, on-duty cops from the Navghar police station showed-up their brighter side and swung into action.
With no clues in hand a team led by API Yogesh Kale under the supervision of Senior Police Inspector- Sampatrao Patil, scanned footage from Close Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras and finally zeroed in on the auto-rickshaw owner.
Investigations revealed that the owner had rented his auto-rickshaw to a driver who had left for his native place in Uttar Pradesh last month and had returned to the city on January 11. The police apprehended the driver and recovered the valuables from his native place and handed it over to the rightful owner. The Navghar police have registered a non-cognizable (NC) offence against the driver under section 403 of the IPC for dishonest misappropriation of property).
