Gujarat robbery cracked in Nepal

KATHMANDU - The robbery at the house of an Indian businessman based in Gujarat has been finally cracked by the Nepal Police with the arrest of three Nepali domestic helps from remote villages in the Himalayan republic.

A part of the heist has also been recovered from them, police said.

Affluent Indian wholesaler Vipin Prakash Mangal’s house in Ahmedabad’s Bharti Society was robbed while he was away with his family a fortnight ago.

When the family detected the theft after returning home last week, they contacted the Indian Embassy in Kathmandu which took up the case with the Nepal authorities.

Goods worth nearly Rs.4-5 million were stolen by five domestic helps from Nepal. These included silver crockery, gold jewellery, cash and foreign currency in US dollars, euros, yuans and even Turkish liras. Handycams and mobile phones were also stolen.

Acting on the complaints, the Nepal Police traced three of the perpetrators to their homes in the Himalayan republic last week.

Dev Bahadur Bharti from Nepal’s remote Jajarkot district was employed as a watchman by the Mangals while Yajna Bahadur Lohar worked as a domestic help. A third Nepali domestic help who worked in the neighbourhood, Sarki Buda, was arrested from Salyan, another remote district.

The Interpol division in Kathmandu told IANS that hunt is still on for two more Nepalis who worked as domestic helps nearby and are suspected to have been involved — Tej Bahadur Khatri and Mote Lohar.

Mangal’s manager Paresh Rawal, who had been anxiously camping in Kathmandu, was handed over recovered stolen goods worth nearly Rs.1 million. He left for Gujarat Tuesday.

Interpol officials said the three arrested Nepalis would be first tried in Nepal’s courts. After the legal process was completed in Nepal, they could be handed over to the Indian authorities as per the extradition treaty if the Indian government made a formal request.

Nepali watchmen and domestic help, once a byword for loyalty, have been steadily acquiring an unsavoury reputation in India where they are found to be involved in a spate of crimes, including robbery and even murder.

Foreign employment agencies in Nepal blame it on the protracted political turmoil in Nepal that has bred violence and a culture of impunity as well as the exodus of unskilled, uneducated workers to India, who are often badly treated.

Bollywood actress Hema Malini’s Goregaon bungalow in Mumbai was burgled during her absence in February by her Nepali domestic helps.