Five individuals have been arrested in connection with the theft of 240 gold coins from a heritage house at Bilimora in Navsari district that took place last year.

The coins, featuring the image of King George V and dating back to 1922, were discovered during the demolition of the house owned by Hawaben Balia, an NRI living in Leicester, the UK.

The five labourers, including a teenager, have been taken into eight-day  police custody by the District Court in Navsari till Jan 3.

The labourers were hired for a demolition job where the accused found British-era gold coins.

A total of 240 gold coins were stolen by the labourers from the house of Hawaben Balia, an NRI staying in the UK. However, certain media houses report this number to be at 199. 

The task of demolition was given to contractor Sarfaraz Haji Koradia on a condition that he would return whatever was found during the demolition of the house.

Vintage coins featuring the image of King George V dating back to 1922 were discovered by the contractor during the demolition. 

Koradia, instead of informing the owner’s representative, stopped the work and fled to his hometown in Madhya Pradesh via Valsad with the discovered coins.

He distributed coins among labourers after reaching MP.

However, MP police initiated a probe after getting a tip-off about the incident. They found gold coins from some labourers and were taken to Bilimora for further investigation.

On the other hand, the representative of the owner filed a complaint against Koradia on Oct 21, 2023. 

The Navsari local crime branch (LCB) reached out to MP and  found 24 gold coins worth ₹11.12 lakh from one of the accused, named Ramku Bhayadia.

Another accused, Raju Bhayadia, his wife Banjari, and a teenager were caught by LCB with 199 coins. 41 coins are yet to be found. The recovered gold coins have a current market valuation of approximately ₹92.25 lakh.

(With inputs from IANS)

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