R B Jagadish
Daijiworld Media Network - Karkala (SP)

Karkala, Jan 24: On Monday January 23, the chief civil and JMFC court here delivered its judgement in relation to a curious case in which three persons were accused of misusing their closeness with a neighbour, opening her house by using the key left with her, and then stealing gold ornaments worth about Rs 30 lac from their cupboard. While the prime accused has been absolved of the charges, the other two have been found guilty and sentenced by the court.

As per the complaint filed by Munawar, wife of Abdul Khader, the theft had occurred between May 15, 2012 and June 29, 2013 during her absence. Munawar, who was living at Bahrain with husband and children, had earlier been staying in an apartment owned by Abid Hassan at Salmara on rent. During this period, she was befriended by neighbour, Lata M Shetty. Before leaving for Bahrain on May 15, 2012, Munawar had given the key of her apartment to Lata M Shetty to enable her to get the house cleaned.

Munawar came back to the town on June 29, 2013. When she tried to contact Lata to get the key and open the lock of her apartment, she found that Lata's cellphone had been switched off. She then contacted Devanand from Peruvaje who used to visit Lata often, and learnt that the key was with Devananand. Later, Rohit Shetty delivered the key to Munawar. Upon opening the door of her house, Munawar found that the lock of her cupboard had been broken open, and gold ornaments worth Rs 30 lac apart from various other valuables including cellphones totally worth about Rs 10 lac had gone missing. Thereafter, she filed a complaint of theft in the town police station here.

Main accused, Rohit Shetty from Peruvaje in the town, was found to be not guilty of the charges. The other accused, Lata M Shetty, residing near Naveed Complex at Salmara and Devanand, living in the industrial area near S B College here, were pronounced guilty.

The case was registered by the then station house officer, Pramod. During the investigation, it was found that the accused had pledged the stolen ornaments to a bank and a private financial firm for raising loans. After concluding investigation, police circle inspector, Valerian D'Souza, filed charge sheet in the court.

Judge of the court, Ramesh Mahajan Appasab, who conducted the hearing, acquitted Rohit Shetty of the charges. The two other accused, who were found guilty, were sentenced to two years of simple imprisonment apart from imposing fine of Rs 4,000 each. If they fail to pay the fine, they will have to undergo two months each of additional imprisonment, the order has prescribed.

The prosecution was represented in the case by assistant public prosecutors, Shbha M Naik, and Jagadish K Jali.