MP: SIT formed to unravel mystery surrounding missing gold coins

Alirajpur: A special investigation team (SIT) has been formed to unravel the mystery surrounding the alleged theft of 240 British-era gold coins by four policemen in Madhya Pradesh’s Alirajpur district, an official said on Wednesday.

The four cops from Sondwa police station in the district are accused of taking away the antique coins from a tribal family that had stumbled upon the valuables while working as labourers at an excavation site in Gujarat and hid them in their home in MP.

The four cops, including the police station in-charge and three constables, have been placed under suspension and a first information report (FIR) has been registered against them, a senior police official told PTI. The policemen are yet to be arrested.

The SIT will be headed by Additional Superintendent of Police Sakharam Sengar, said Alirajpur Superintendent of Police Hansraj Singh.

“The team is working in two parts. The first team took the complainant and her family members to Belimora village in Gujarat’s Navasari district where they found the 240 British-era gold coins during excavation,” he said.

The complainant gave one gold coin, dating back to 1922, to the police, who got it evaluated by a jeweller. It weighs 7.98 grams and is 90 per cent pure gold.

While the coin is worth about Rs 45,000 as per current gold rates, bullion experts said it could fetch lakhs in international markets for being an antique item.

The police took the members of the tribal family to the house in Gujarat where they found the gold coins, the official said.

“The police also enquired about them with other labourers and contractors and recreated the scene,” the SP said, adding the team has come back from Gujarat.

“The second team is searching the accused policemen and also trying to recover gold coins,” he said.

Meanwhile, the ruling BJP's former MLA and its state unit’s vice president Nagarsingh Chauhan demanded immediate arrest of the accused cops and the addition of sections related to loot in the FIR instead of just theft.

He also demanded that the gold coins be handed over to the tribal family.

The SP said they will seek legal opinion on the issue of handing over the gold coins to the tribal family after the police recover them and accordingly take action in the matter.

The suspended cops are Sondwa police station in-charge Vijay Deora and three constables, identified as Rakesh, Surendra and Vijender, the SP earlier told PTI.

Constable Rakesh and three unnamed policemen have been named in the FIR, which has been registered under Indian Penal Code section 379 (theft). The SP too confirmed that a case of theft has been registered against the accused.

Asked why Deora and Surendra and Vijendra have been suspended when their names did not figure in the FIR, Singh said that it has been done on ‘reasonable confirmation’.

“Besides, we want the ongoing inquiry to be impartial and fair, and ensure that no one influences it,” Singh said.

He said that a tribal named Shambhu Singh (52) lodged a police complaint on July 20, alleging that four cops of the Sondwa police station came to his house in Baijda village, about 30 km from the district headquarters.

The accused thrashed his wife Ramkubai (51) and took away 240 gold coins buried in their house on July 19, the SP said quoting the complaint.

An informer tipped the four cops about the gold coins, said an official.

On July 21, the complainant’s family in their complete statement named the three other policemen including the inspector. On July 20, they had just named Rakesh on which the FIR was registered then, the SP added.

About how the tribal family got the coins, he said that according to the complainant's claim, they stumbled upon the riches while working as labourers in Gujarat. They hid the coins under the ground at some place of their house on their return.

On receiving the complaint, Alirajpur Sub Divisional Officer of Police (SDOP) Shraddha Sonkar investigated the matter following which the four cops were suspended and the FIR was registered.

Tribal men and women from Alirajpur, Jhabua and other indigenous-dominated districts of MP go or migrate to Gujarat and Rajasthan to eke out a living.