Minorities panel chairman robbed of Rs 5.8 lakh valuables

The chairman of Maharashtra State Minorities Commission, Mohammad Hussein Khan became the victim of a train robbery after his wife’s purse that had some cash and jewellery worth Rs 5.85 lakh was stolen while they were travelling to Bhusawal from Mumbai on September 22.

While the commission’s chief lodged a complaint, he had to ask the railway commissioner to expedite the probe. According to sources in the office of Mr Khan, his wife and he were travelling to Bhusawal on September 22 for a family event. As his post is equivalent to a state minister he had two bodyguards accompanying him on the journey. However, as the tickets had been booked late, only one bodyguard was close to the couple. “Ms Khan decided to remove the jewellery that she normally wears before retiring for the night while on the train. She put them in her handbag and kept it under her head. However, when she woke up in the morning she found that the bag had gone missing. She immediately alerted Mr Khan who informed the bodyguard who was seated close by. The RPF were alerted about the robbery and a complaint was lodged,” said an aide of Mr Khan.

When asked about the same, Mr Khan said both he and his wife were shocked at being victims of robbery.

“Though my wife is distraught at the loss, I have full faith in the railway police. As the investigations by the railway police was going slow I contacted the railway police commissioner Niket Kaushik, and he has assured that he will get the robbery investigated and solved at the earliest,” Mr Khan said.

When contacted, Mr Kaushik said that the incident happened in the jurisdiction of superintendent of police Nagpur hence he would not be able to do anything about the probe but would follow up with his counterpart in Nagpur.