Family gets back multi-million looted gold after 22 years of robbery

A family was able to get back their stolen gold worth over eighty million Indian rupees, 22 years after it was stolen by a gang of armed robbers in 1998.

The gold was stolen by a gang armed with knives from Arjan Daswani’s house in the Colaba area of India’s Mumbai on May 8, 1998. The gang had assaulted the security guard, forcibly took keys to the safe, tied up Daswani and his wife to steal the items.

The property was worth 1.3 million Indian rupees 22 years ago and is now valued at over 80 million Indian Rupees.

Three of the accused were later arrested and part of the booty was recovered in 1998. The three were acquitted in a 1999 trial. Three more accused are still absconding. Arjan Daswani died in 2007.

A court has passed an order to hand over a gold coin containing Queen Victoria’s picture, two gold bracelets and two ingots weighing 1,00 gram and 200 milligrams to Raju Daswani.

Public prosecutor Iqbal Solkar and inspector Sanjay Donnar of Colaba police said that they had no objection to returning the property, subject to certain conditions.

Raju Daswani submitted bills and receipts which confirmed that the property belongs to his family.