Former Odisha assembly deputy speaker Rama Chandra Panda has finally received the gold ‘mangalsutra’ snatched from his wife nearly two decades ago in Maharashtra, officials said.

GRP investigated the chain-snatching incident

Government Railway Police (GRP) personnel from Kurduwadi railway station, where the incident occurred, visited Panda’s residence in Berhampur and returned the 1.6 gm gold, but in a moulded form, valued at ₹10,000.

“I thanked the railway policemen from Maharashtra for recovering the snatched gold ornament and returning it to the rightful owner after about two decades. The value of the ornament might be small, but this gesture shows their accountability. It will strengthen the common man’s faith in the police,” Panda said.

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How was the gold chain lost, and later found?

The ‘mangalsutra’ was snatched on December 20, 2005, aboard the Bhubaneswar-Mumbai Konark Express between Solapur and Pune. Panda had filed a complaint. Police had recorded his statement on March 7, 2006 and started an investigation, the officials said.

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The clue for the lost chain was found after a lengthy investigation after a chain-snatcher in Solapur was arrested. It was found that the snatcher was allegedly involved in a series of snatching cases inside trains, on March 20, 2006.

The looted gold, in moulded form, was recovered from a goldsmith.

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GRP came to return snatched gold, after 13 years

Police requested Panda to collect it from Kurduwadi railway police station on May 20, 2011.

However, Panda declined to travel the long distance and asked the police to hand it over to the Maharashtra government.

“We came here to hand over the recovered gold to Panda, as per the directions of our higher-ups, after consulting him about his availability at his house,” Shinde Yashwant Dagadu, one of the policemen who visited his residence, said.

(Inputs from PTI)