Thief returns stolen TV after realising house belonged to Marathi poet Narayan Surve, pastes apology note
The house in Maharashtra’s Raigad district belonged to the late Marathi poet and social activist Narayan Surve.
The house from where valuables were stolen belonged to celebrated Marathi poet and social activist Narayan Surve, who died on August 16, 2010, at the age of 84 years. His poems vividly depicted the struggles of the urban working class. (Representational) A thief, probably well read, was apparently so overcome with guilt on realising he had burgled a famous Marathi poet’s home at Neral in Maharashtra’s Raigad district that he returned some of the stolen items like an LED TV.
However, this could lead police to him as they are going through fingerprints on the TV besides scanning CCTV footage from the area.
The house from where valuables were stolen belonged to celebrated Marathi poet and social activist Narayan Surve, who died on August 16, 2010, at the age of 84 years. His poems vividly depicted the struggles of the urban working class.
Surve’s daughter Sujata Ghare and her husband Ganesh Ghare now live in the house. They had gone to Virar to be with their son on June 26. On July 14 they received a call from their neighbour saying the toilet window had been broken and that there could have been a theft. The couple rushed home and found several articles missing from the house.
“We have a big photograph of my father on the wall. One the pillar next to the wall, we found a note written by the thief.” The note read,‘I was not aware that the house belonged to Narayan Surve, or else I would have never stolen from there. I have returned the LED TV set I stole. Sorry’,” Sujata Ghare told The Indian Express.
Ghare added, “While he has returned the TV, there were several other items that are still missing. These include eight taps, cooking powder, table fan, utensils and a five-litre bottle of Suryaful cooking oil. We then approached the local police station.”
Inspector Shivaji Dhawale from the Neral police station said the police had registered an FIR and were investigating the case. “Based on the fingerprints we found on the LED TV and CCTV footage, we hope to trace the accused soon.”
The police believe the thief may have entered the house a couple of times and that it was only later he realised that the house belonged to the poet, after seeing his photograph.
Surve was born in Mumbai. Before he became a famous Marathi poet, he had grown up as an orphan on the streets of Mumbai, then survived by working as a domestic help, a dishwasher in a hotel, a babysitter, a pet-dog caretaker, a milk delivery boy, a porter and a mill hand.
Through his poetry, Surve glorified labour and challenged the established literary norms in Marathi literature.
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