Man on run for 7 yrs held by Mumbai Police in theft case

A 32-year-old man, who was on the run since seven years after allegedly stealing gold ornaments worth Rs 68.2 lakh and Rs 3 lakh cash from a jeweller's house here, has been arrested by Mumbai Police's crime branch, an official said on Wednesday.

Sandeep Dauji Sharma, a native Mathura in Uttar Pradesh who was currently staying in Vile Parle area here, was nabbed on Monday when he was trying to sell the gold ornaments to some person, he said.

Sharma earlier worked with a jeweller based in suburban Andheri. As the jeweller's family trusted him, they had given him keys of their home, also located in Andheri.

The accused allegedly committed the theft at the jeweller's house on October 2012 when the latter had gone to Solapur district with his family, the official said.

When the jeweller's family returned, they found gold ornaments worth around Rs 68.2 lakh and cash amounting to Rs 3 lakh missing from their home, he said.

The accused also never returned to the jewellery shop after the incident, he said.

The police searched for Sharma all these years and even went to his native place, but failed to trace him.

They also took help of the social media to locate him and recently got a specific tip-off, following which they nabbed him while he was trying to sell the booty, he said.

Around 1.9 kg of gold ornaments were recovered from his possession, he said, adding that the accused was booked under Indian Penal Code Section 381 (theft).