Valuables worth Rs 18 crore stolen from builder’s house in Marathahalli

BENGALURU: A Nepalese couple allegedly stole gold, diamonds and cash worth Rs 18 crore from a builder’s house in Marathahalli. The couple, who were working in the builder’s house, allegedly stole 11.5 kg of gold, diamond jewellery, 5 kg of silver items, and Rs 11.5 lakh in cash on January 25 when the family was out for a function.

The total value of the stolen items is estimated to be around Rs 18 crore. The Marathahalli police have registered a case, and a special team has been formed to track down Dinesh and Kamala,the accused couple.

“The couple had joined work about 20-25 days ago. Prior to them, a family was staying with us for 9-10 months and we had their Aadhaar card copies. We had no problem with the family, but they returned to Nepal when we were renovating our house. Without informing us, they put up a post on Facebook and brought this couple to work here. We never used the jewellery in front of the couple.

“On Sunday morning, we went to attend a function when they stole jewellery and diamond necklaces, all worth about Rs 17-18 crore. It also included my mother-in-law’s jewellery which had been passed on to me. They had brought tools to break open the lockers and committed the theft in 30 minutes”, said Malini Shivakumar.

“For the last nine months, we have been carrying out some renovation in the house and there are about 50-60 workers. To look after the work, we hired the couple Dinesh and Kamala based on the previous family’s recommendation. We make it a point to collect everyone’s Aadhaar card copy and account number and all payments are made directly to their accounts. This has happened when I was out of the country and had to break my trip after my son called to inform me about the theft”, said M R Shivakumar.