A 25-year-old man from Assam’s Jorhat district was arrested on Monday for allegedly stealing ₹50 lakh in cash and gold items from his house to buy gifts for his girlfriend, police said.
The accused, identified as Yash Dhanuka Agarwal, stole money and other valuables on August 11, police said. His father lodged a first information report (FIR) at Jorhat Sadar police station on Monday. According to Yash’s father, the family members were out when he broke open the locker in his parents’ room and stole the cash and gold.
“The money was saved for business purposes and Yash knew it because he was a part of the family business. We had no idea that they could plan anything like this,” his family members said.
The officer-in-charge of the police station, Rishikesh Hazarika, said that Yash Dhanuka was absconding since the theft and his mobile phone was traced to Ahmedabad in Gujarat by the cyber security cell.
“His father went to Ahmedabad, brought him back to Jorhat and handed him over to the police on Monday. We arrested him after registering the case officially,” Hazarika said.
A case was registered under sections 61(2) (criminal conspiracy), 305(a) (theft in a dwelling house or other specified place), 317(2) (dishonestly receiving or retaining stolen property), 317(2) (helping to conceal stolen property), 3(5) (joint criminal liability) and 56 (abetment of an offence punishable with imprisonment) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
“He has been sent to judicial custody and we are investigating the case further,” officials said.
“He has admitted that he gifted his longtime girlfriend an iPhone worth around ₹1.5 lakh, gave her a big amount of cash and they spent several days in some expensive hotels and resorts,” officer told HT on Tuesday.
Apart from Yash, two of his friends, Jitendra Somani and Rohit Prasad, were also named in the FIR, police said. However, his alleged girlfriend was not named as an accused, though she may be brought in for questioning, police said.
According to police, the two friends helped him in planning the theft and later supported him in selling the gold items. “Both of them are presently absconding and we are tracking them,” officials said.
Police said that the investigation is at a preliminary stage and probe is underway.
