Mumbai: Teens who drugged family planned to sell loot in Nepal

The accused surrounded by police officers

The Khar police on Saturday night recovered the ornaments worth Rs 2.5 crore stolen by the two 19-year-olds who drugged a Khar family on February 10 from a village where Maoist activities have been witnessed. The accused, Neeraj Yadav alias Raja and Rajakumar Mondol alias Shatrughn Kumar, were caught while they were on their way to a school to appear for the SSC exam at Laukaha village in Samastipur, Bihar on Friday morning. The accused are residents of Madhubani village, which is close to the Nepal border. The accused had planned to escape to Nepal to sell the stolen jewellery after taking the exam.

A source said, "The Khar police received information about the accused taking the exam and went through lists of students, which included around 15,000 names. As it was difficult to identify the accused, they enlisted the help of locals. They set up a nakabandi on the road leading to the school. On Friday morning, the accused were heading towards the school on a bike, and the police identified them. They tried to escape, but the police chased them for about 6-7 kilometres and caught them."

The stolen jewellery that was recovered by the police

Sources said that a group of criminals known as the Madhubani gang is active in this village, and both accused are members. This gang trains people on how to rob houses by posing as help. A police officer said, "The accused were trained by the gang, and they came to Mumbai last year in search of employment in the homes of affluent individuals. Mondol managed to land a job at Zaveri house, located on 14th Road in Khar West, but he failed to collect crucial information. Yadav, joined the work one month ago. Both of them started keeping an eye on where the house owner, Sunita Zaveri, kept the keys to lockers."

"On February 10, they mixed sleeping pills into the family's dinner. The next morning, Zaveri, her daughter, maid and relatives woke up vomiting and found the lockers open. They were admitted to the hospital and informed the cops about the incident," a source said.

Under the guidance of Police Commissioner Vivek Phansalkar, Special Commissioner Deven Bharti, Additional Commissioner (Law and Order) Satyanarayan Chaudhary, Additional Commissioner of West Region Paramjit Singh Dahiya, DCP Raj Tilak Roshan, ACP Pradip Khude and Senior Inspector Mohan Mane, a team was formed comprising PI Kanse, API Jagtap, PSI Hanmant Kumbhare, PSI Pradeep Patil, PSI Devidas Padalwar, PSI More, PSI Ghapte, head constables Dinesh Shirke and Bharat Kache, and Constables Yogesh Torne and Ghatkar and cyber team Ganesh Hanchnale. It was sent to Bihar on February 11.

The cops got in touch with the accused's relatives and studied Samastipur carefully. They found that the accused had created fake Aadhaar cards to secure jobs in Mumbai. After arresting the accused, the police discovered that they had hidden the jewellery in a house in Bhatora village. As it was difficult to enter the hamlet in daylight, the Khar cops sought help from the local police and retrieved the jewellery at night. The accused were produced in court and remanded in police custody for three days.

Feb 10
Day crime occurred