Woman tenant held for stealing gold worth ₹18L

Surat: A woman tenant was arrested for allegedly stealing 15 tolas of gold jewellery worth Rs 17.77 lakh from her landlady’s house in Katargam, while the family was away on an outing, police said on Tuesday.

The complainant, Shilpa Padmani, 42, is a teacher at a private school here, while her husband runs a textile business in the Sachin GIDC industrial estate. The couple lives in a house in Kanteshwar Society, where they rented out the first floor to the accused, Usha Tank, 38, and the second floor to another family.

Padmani told police that she had accumulated around 15 tolas of gold over the years from her savings and her husband’s business income. The jewellery was kept in a cupboard inside their house.

She last saw the jewellery on March 28 while taking out cash from the cupboard. The family then went for an outing to a farmhouse on the evening of March 30 and returned the following night. On their return, the house lock was intact and no signs of theft were noticed.

The theft came to light on April 21, when Padmani opened the cupboard to retrieve the jewellery for a relative’s engagement but found it missing despite checking thoroughly. The family approached Katargam police the same day, after which an FIR was registered for theft and criminal trespassing.

During the investigation, police grew suspicious of Tank, who had been living in the house for the past three months, and called her in for questioning. Officers found that her call records from March 30 to 31 had been deleted from her phone.

During interrogation, Tank allegedly confessed to the theft, police said. She told investigators that she entered the house after finding one of the rooms unlocked and took the jewellery, saying she intended to give it to her daughter‑in‑law as a wedding gift.