In an interesting turn of events, a retired government official, whose house was burgled, landed in a soup after the police cracked the case and recovered the stolen goods ₹1.88 crore in cash which is yet to be credibly accounted for.
The city police are now writing to the Income Tax (IT) Department and Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) seeking a probe. The money will be in the custody of the court and will be returned to the complainant only if the Income Tax sleuths clear it, said Harish Pande, DCP (South).
A retired Railway Protection Force (RPF) official, Mohan Lal lodged a complaint with the Kumaraswamy Layout police on March 29 alleging that his son Sandeep Lal’s house, where he also lived, has been burgled and jewellery was stolen. The house was left locked for four days before the burglary was discovered.
The police found leads from CCTV footage of the area and technical investigations led them to crack the case in a week’s time. The police arrested Sunil Kumar, 35, a resident of Subramanyapura in the city, a known house burglar and Dileep, 23, from Magadi, arrested earlier in a ganja case.
Their investigation left the police shocked as they found a huge cash trove in the house. Mohan Lal had made no mention of the cash among missing valuables. Police recovered the cash trove and ₹12 lakh worth gold jewellery the two thieves had bought with the stolen money pile, which is now established as ₹1.88 crore.
Dileep had to pay the lawyers ₹2 lakh for getting him out on bail. The two got together and decided to break into a house in the city. After they observed the big bungalow of Mohan Lal locked for three days, they broke into it on the night of March 28. “They were shocked to discover a huge cash trove of ₹ 1.88 crore. They couldn’t even count the money. They spent ₹12 Lakh to buy some jewelry. The rest of the money and the jewelry have been recovered,” a senior police official said.
Mohan Lal has not been able to convincingly explain the source of the money, police said. He has reportedly claimed that it was from a real estate deal where he sold some family land. However, police sourced said he has failed to produce relevant documents, following which the police have now decided to write to the IT and ACB.
