Woman loses gold jewellery worth ₹3.15 lakh in rickshaw theft, driver and accomplice absconding

A 60-year-old woman from Old Ranip was allegedly robbed of gold jewellery worth ₹3.1 lakh and ₹5,000 in cash by an auto-rickshaw driver and his accomplice while she was returning home from Shahibaug early on May 13. The accused, including an unidentified passenger in the rickshaw, reportedly fled after executing the theft, police said.

The victim, Sonaben Hiralal Modi, a resident of Neminathnagar Society in Old Ranip, in her complaint to Madhavpura police, stated that she had returned to Ahmedabad from her native village in Rajasthan following a family event. After arriving at Namaste Circle in Shahibaug around 5.30 am, she boarded an auto-rickshaw to her residence in Ranip.

According to her complaint, the driver and another unidentified man seated behind placed a cloth sheet over the rickshaw’s rear section where Sonaben had kept her black bag. "When we reached near Bharat Petrol Pump under Shahibaug Underbridge around 6 am, the driver stopped the vehicle claiming it had broken down. The man sitting behind handed me the bag and both of them quickly disappeared," the complaint stated.

Upon reaching home, Sonaben discovered that a small yellow wallet containing cash and gold jewellery weighing around 39.5 grams was missing from her bag. The stolen items included a gold chain, anklets, bangles, a pair of ear links, and a gold ring, all brought from her hometown in Rajasthan.

The total estimated value of the stolen jewellery is ₹3.1 lakh, along with ₹5,000 in cash, taking the total loss to ₹3.15 lakh, police said.

Sonaben, accompanied by her son, filed the complaint at Madhavpura police station on May 16. Police have registered a case under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code pertaining to theft and cheating.

Police officials said that efforts are on to identify and trace the accused using nearby CCTV footage and technical surveillance.