Mumbai: Man robs Rs 1.5 lakh from friend who lent him his bike keys

Sainath Dharma

Here's a friend who is definitely not for keeps. While there are no points for loyalty, Sainath Dharma takes the cake for turning on his friend and looting him when all his pal did was loan him his motorcycle. Thankfully, demonetisation played spoilsport and he was brought to book.

Brutus at work
On November 27, Dharma asked his friend to lend him his motorcycle; the latter obliged by handing over a set of keys. However, it also contained his Nagpada house keys that Dharma, an artist who makes rangoli designs and related paintings, made a copy of to use at a later date.

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On November 29, Dharma discovered that his friend was not at home and decided to take advantage of the situation. On entering the house, he managed to find 47 grams of gold and Rs 1.5 lakh in cash that he then took off with.

What he didn't factor in was that due to demonetisation, the money - all in old denomination of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 - was useless and he needed to figure out a way to use it. To that end, the 27-year-old made up a story to tell his uncle that the money was all of his savings since the time he started earning and requested him to deposit it in his own account. His uncle agreed to the arrangement and promised to give it to him whenever he needed it.

When Dharma's friend discovered the robbery, he noticed that though the house was robbed, there seemed to be no mess left behind. He then asked around and his neighbours mentioned that they had seen his friend, Dharma, enter the house in his absence.

He then filed a complaint with the Nagpada police station and shared the result of his investigation, following which Dharma was arrested.

Police says
"We registered a complaint and detained Dharma based on suspicion and during his interrogation, he gave up and confessed," said an officer. However, to corroborate the accused's claims, the police also checked his uncle's bank account and discovered the missing Rs 1.5 lakh.

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He added, "We recovered the gold from Dharma's house and seized his uncle's bank account where the stolen money was deposited. The complainant was lucky that the money robbed from his place was in the old denomination, due to which Dharma was forced to resort to deposit it. He didn't dare to use his own account for fear of being nabbed, and hence, roped in his uncle."