Mangaluru: Gold ornaments worth Rs 14 lakh stolen from passenger’s bag in bus

The man suspects that someone entered the bus during the halt, stole the jewellery from the purse, and left the empty purse behind.

Mangaluru: Jewellery worth approximately Rs 14 lakh was stolen from a passenger travelling on a Bengaluru-bound bus on November 19. In a complaint to Bantwal Town Police Station, Vasudeva Surya (69), a resident of Cherkady village in Brahmavar taluk, Udupi district said that he was travelling with his wife Shankari to attend a relatives wedding in Bengaluru.

Before boarding the private bus from Brahmavar at around 9 pm, Surya had packed multiple gold ornaments in a purse and placed it inside a bag. The bus reportedly stopped near Baltila village, Bantwal taluk, around 11:15 pm. The complainant’s wife handed him the bag containing the gold before stepping out to use the washroom. A few minutes later, Surya also stepped out, leaving the bag on his seat.

When he returned to the bus around 11:20 pm, he noticed that the purse inside the bag was lying open on the seat and all the gold ornaments were missing. He suspects that someone entered the bus during the halt, stole the jewellery from the purse, and left the empty purse behind. The total estimated weight of the stolen jewellery is about 134 grams.

Bantwal Town Police have registered a case under Section 303(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).