03 October,2012 06:37 AM IST | | Saurabh Vaktania
A 15-year-old boy avenged his stepmother's alleged ill treatment towards him by robbing her of Rs 2 lakh worth of jewellery and then selling the coveted valuables to her two female neighbours - at the throwaway price of Rs 700.
Nipped in the bud: The 15-year-old boy took the stolen valuables to two neighbours Sunita and Manisha, and sold it to them. The two women have now been detained at Byculla jail, while the boy has been sentu00a0to a remand home in Dongriu00a0
According to the boy's statement to the police, he was driven to commit the crime by his stepmother's cruelty.
Keshav lives with his father Madhav Patil and stepmother Sita at Anand Nagar in Kurar, Malad (East).
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Five years ago, Keshav's biological mother passed away and Madhav remarried a few months later.
In his statement, Keshav said that Sita ill-treated him, not serving him food and behaving rudely with him.
The Kurar police have detained the two neighbours - identified as Sunita Singh (52) and Manisha Singh (35), while Keshav has been sent to a remand home in Dongri.
ASI Sudhakar Mahamunkar of Kurar police station revealed that Sita had taken out costly gold, silver and diamond ornaments from the safe in the house, so she could wear them during Ganpati celebrations. Keshav kept an eye on her. Towards the end of the festival, Sita returned the ornaments to the locker.
Mahamunkar added, "On Monday morning, she was going through her locker, when she realised that ornaments worth Rs 2 lakh were missing. She asked her husband and thereafter Keshav about the lost jewellery. Keshav fumbled nervously and gave unconvincing answers. Sita immediately smelt a rat and dragged Keshav to the Kurar police station, against his father Madhav's wishes.
Keshav confessed when cops at Kurar police station interrogated him. He admitted that he had helped himself to the ornaments in the locker when his father and stepmother were away. He took the stolen valuables to the two neighbours Sunita and Manisha, and made the sale. He sold half of the booty to Sunita for Rs 500 and the remaining to Manisha for Rs 200.
Based on Keshav's statement, the police called both women to the police station for questioning, where they too confessed to the crime.
"The boy alleged that his step-mother Sita had been ill-treating him. She was extremely rude to him and often deprived him of food. Due to the abuse the boy got into bad company and remained absent from his school on several occasions. Fed up with the abuse, Keshav planned a theft at his own house," Mahamunkar added.
PSI Nilesh Mane of Kurar police station said, "We have arrested Keshav under Section 380 for theft in dwelling house and both the women under Section 411 for dishonestly receiving stolen property.
All were presented at Bandra holiday court. Keshav has now been sent to a Dongri remand home and both women to Byculla jail. All the stolen assets have been recovered."
(Names of the boy and his family members have been changed to protect his identity as he is a minor)
