The police then recovered the cash, which Shaikh had allegedly hidden in several different locations. However, the police were surprised to find a lot more cash than Lakdawala had reported stolen, and took him into custody too.
CASH totaling Rs 1.25 crore was found in a parcel allegedly stolen from a travel company’s office in Dongri Saturday. Apart from the thief, the police have also arrested the sender of the parcel who had allegedly claimed that he was sending a dinner set and Rs 3 lakh in cash to a relative in Goa. On Saturday, Jafferali Lakdawala (52), who owns a mobile phone store in Crawford Market, registered a complaint with the Dongri police after a parcel he had given to Bhagwati Travels, located on Pune Street in Dongri, was reported stolen. Earlier that day, Lakdawala, accompanied by an employee, had dropped off the parcel at the company, claiming that it contained a dinner set worth Rs 1,000 and Rs 3 lakh in cash.
A little while later, said the police, Lakdawala’s another employee Yasin Shaikh (23) visited Bhagwati Travels and asked for the parcel to be returned to him. “The accused told the firm that his employer had forgotten to pack some more items,” said Manoj Kumar Sharma, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Zone I.
The company soon informed Lakdawala that his employee had taken away the parcel with him, hearing which the latter approached the police. As Lakdawala was not sure which of his employees was responsible for the theft, the police questioned all four men working at his shop. “We investigated the movements and alibis of all the men at the time of the theft and identified the accused,” said Sharma.
The police then recovered the cash, which Shaikh had allegedly hidden in several different locations. However, the police were surprised to find a lot more cash than Lakdawala had reported stolen, and took him into custody too. Sharma said the police had also informed the income tax department regarding the suspicious transport of a large amount of currency notes.
“We are probing as to whom the accused had planned to send the money to. It appears to be a hawala transaction,” he added.
