The method which the police have adopted to value gold seems to be uniquely designed for the department’s convenience. The gold would be rated low in case a person is robbed and its value would be high if the police have recovered it from a thief!
The policemen value the gold, whether pure or impure, by finding out the year in which it was bought and then making a comparative study. “The police delve into the history of the concerned family to calculate value of gold today,” said a social worker. He also added, “Police also have been showing sound understanding of socioeconomic changes in the country. They have nearly triggered a need for research on India’s matrimonial patterns by assuming
that most Indians married prior to 80s to avoid high gold prices.”
It so happened that burglars recently struck at a trader’s place in Manav Nagar and made away with 20 tola of gold. Mahesh Tiwari, the trader, was left aghast by the amount of loss that the police cited in the official record. “I had repeatedly told the police that gold costing more than Rs 5 lakh was stolen from my house. But the cops kept on ignoring my pleas. They said that the value of 20 tola gold stolen from my place was only Rs 1.50 lakh,” said an
exasperated Tiwari.
According to an expert, the value of gold at present is around Rs 22,000 per 10 grams. He opined that the yellow metal would not be priced less wherever it is valued. “A bullion trader would purchase gold at the present rate in the market irrespective of whether it had been valued by police or thief,” said the expert.
The Akbanis from Mahesh Nagar had lost more than eight-and-half tola gold after their house was recently burgled. The cops calculated their loss to be less than Rs 1 lakh. The Akbanis were left speechless by the cops’ valuation.
Last week the crime branch police nabbed the thief, who had burgled the Akbanis’ place, and recovered the valuables. But dramatically the value of recovered gold changed.
“We have recovered gold worth more than Rs 1.20 lakhs that was stolen from Akbani’s place,” said a crime branch official. The very gold that had been valued at a lesser rate suddenly gained value after it was recovered by the police. “The calculator that the police use, seem to be a very faithful and unique gadget,” said a social worker.
Police seem to have devised various ways to defeat a burglary victim in arguments regarding the rate of gold. Tiwari recalled some questions that the cops asked him regarding the value of loss at his place. “I was asked to furnish the list of the gold ornaments stolen and produce bills for each item,” he said. “They wanted me to find out from my family whether the details of the gold purchases were available. The cops asked me to contact my relatives for bills of the purchases they made while gifting me or my wife a gold ornament,” said Tiwari.
Another person, whose house was recently burgled, said that the police inquiry into the theft sounded as if they were working for the income tax department too. “Cops were so fascinated with gold bills that it seemed as if they wanted to audit my family’s wealth and not record the theft,” he said.
No comments:
Post a Comment