As man attends mother’s funeral, duo break in and steal Rs 12 L gold

The two men made off with Rs 7,000 in cash and 400 gm of gold, a majority of which has been recovered by police

As man attends mother's funeral, duo break in and steal Rs 12 L gold

While funerals are usually a time for solemn observance and prayer, a man saw his employer’s mother’s funeral as the perfect opportunity to steal from his home while everyone was away.

Golden opportunity: Shivaji Nagar police with the gold valuables recovered from the two accused

On Tuesday, the Shivaji Nagar police arrested two men involved in a break-in at a tailor’s home in Govandi.

Salim Shaukat Ansariu00a0

According to police, Maqsood Ali Shaikh, (49) lost his mother Khadija on November 28, after which he and his relatives carried out her burial process at Sunni Muslim Kabaristan in Deonar on the same day.

Ejaz Mohammad Usman Shaikh

One of the accused, Ejaz Mohammad Usman Shaikh was working for Maqsood, and was also present at the funeral. While the family was away, Ejaz’s accomplice broke into Maqsood’s home and stole 40 tolas (400 grams) of gold “When Maqsood returned home, he found that Rs 7,000 in cash and around 40 tolas of gold that his mother had collected during her lifetime were missing,” said Shivajirao Awate, assistant police inspector, Shivaji Nagar police station.

While investigating the case, police picked up suspects that had previously committed break-ins, but could not get any leads.

Finally, they inquired with Maqsood about his employees and asked if anybody had left the kabaristan during the last rites.

“Maqsood told us that Ejaz had left the funeral to smoke a cigarette, and had taken one of the relative’s bikes. When he returned, he was accompanied by the second accused, Salim Shaukat Ansari,” said Radheyshyam Agarwal, senior police inspector of Shivaji Nagar police station.

Acting on suspicion, the police asked Ejaz to summon Ansari for questioning, but he said that the latter had gone to Delhi. Sensing that something was amiss, police discovered that Ejaz was lying and brought them both in for interrogation. “When we picked them up and interrogated them, they confessed that while Maqsood’s family was busy with the last rites, Ansari had carried out the robbery.

Ejaz kept him informed about the situation on the phone, and then picked up Ansari after the crime had been committed,” said Awate. Police have managed to recover around 36 tolas of gold, valued at Rs 10,56,150. Both the accused have been remanded to police custody till December 9.u00a0

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