House helps sedate Mumbai family members, steal jewellery worth Rs 50 lakh

Raja Yadav, alias Niraj, 19, and Shatrughan Kumar, alias Raju, 19, had been working as servants at the house of Sunita Vijay Zaveri for the past month and ten days, respectively. Zaveri, 53, lives with her 19-year-old daughter at 14th Road, Khar (West). Her husband, a jeweller, passed away in November 2023 due to prolonged illness.

Yadav and Kumar were employed by Zaveri on the recommendation of her former driver, Santosh Roy. The two used to stay in the kitchen.

According to the police, on the evening of February 10, Zaveri’s cook, Mukesh Singh, cooked food as usual and left. Zaveri, her daughter, her husband’s 65-year-old sister, who had come to stay for a few days with her, and her maid, Nalini Patil, all had dinner at around 9 pm.

“After having the meal, we all experienced nausea, and by 11.30, we all went to sleep. The next day, when I woke up at 8 am, articles in my rooms were scattered all over the floor, and two uncut diamond jewellery were missing,” Zaveri told the police.

“We were all constantly vomiting, and when we looked for Niraj and Raju, they were not in the kitchen, where they used to sleep. This prompted me to believe that they sedated our meal, put us in deep sleep, and made away with the jewellery,” Zaveri stated in the FIR.

Zaveri called her son, following which she and the other three were admitted to Hinduja Hospital. The police recorded Zaveri’s statement at the hospital and lodged an FIR against Niraj and Raju.

A police source said they have been booked under sections 328 (causing hurt by means of poison), 381 (theft by servant), and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and we are looking for them.