Mumbai: Santacruz Police Solve ₹77 Lakh Burglary at Painter Artist’s Flat, Three Arrested

Santacruz Police have successfully cracked a high-value burglary involving property worth approximately ₹77.73 lakh at the residence of a painter artist in Santacruz. In connection with the case, the police have arrested three accused from the Nagpada area and recovered the entire stolen property.

The arrested accused have been identified as Mohan Mukhiya, Lalu Mohan Mukhiya and Santosh Mukhiya. All three are native residents of Bihar and are history-sheeters. During the investigation, it came to light that multiple cases have already been registered against them at the Gamdevi Police Station.

The complainant, Gayatri Gujarathi, is a professional painter artist currently residing at Gowalia Tank. She owns a flat on Juhu-Tara Road in Santacruz, which has been undergoing renovation work for the past one-and-a-half years. Owing to the renovation, she had shifted to a rented accommodation in the Gamdevi area but had kept some of her valuables in the Santacruz flat. She had installed CCTV cameras in the flat and used to monitor the footage every four to five days.

On Tuesday, the building security guard, Anilkumar Shukla, contacted her and enquired whether any theft had occurred in her flat. Suspecting foul play, Gujarathi immediately checked the CCTV footage on her mobile phone. The footage revealed that on January 3, between 2.30 am and 3.15 am, an unidentified person had entered the flat through a window.

Upon inspection, it was found that an iron locker inside a wooden cupboard in the guest room had been broken open. Gold and silver ornaments, imitation jewellery and cash amounting to ₹55,000, collectively worth ₹77,73,500, were stolen from the locker.

Following the incident, the victim approached Santacruz Police and lodged a complaint against unknown persons. After verifying the complaint, the police registered a case of house-breaking and theft and launched a search operation to trace the accused.

During the course of the investigation, the police detained Mohan Mukhiya, Lalu Mukhiya and Santosh Mukhiya from the Nagpada area on suspicion. During interrogation, the trio confessed to committing the burglary. Based on their disclosure, the police recovered the majority of the stolen valuables.

Further investigation revealed that all three accused are habitual offenders with prior cases of theft and house-breaking registered against them at Gamdevi Police Station. The accused are currently in police custody and are being interrogated further. Police officials have stated that more cases of a similar nature are likely to be solved based on their interrogation.