Mumbai Police returned stolen and cybercrime-linked property valued at about Rs 1.74 crore to its original owners at a programme held at Kandivali police station, giving residents back gold jewellery, cash, vehicles and mobile phones recovered during investigations across police stations in North Mumbai.
The property was handed over after the completion of the required legal procedures. Deputy Commissioner of Police Sandeep Ghuge, who oversees Zone 2, formally gave the recovered items to citizens during the special property distribution programme, according to Loksatta’s report.
The recovered material included 684 grams of gold jewellery valued at approximately Rs 90.44 lakh. Police also returned Rs 22,87,554 in cash and money linked to online cybercrime cases. In addition, 14 vehicles valued at Rs 8.50 lakh were recovered, comprising 13 two-wheelers and one autorickshaw.
The recovery covers different forms of urban property crime rather than a single incident. The items were seized during investigations conducted by police stations in North Mumbai’s Zone 2, with the eventual return dependent on the identification of rightful owners and completion of the legal process.
Mobile phone recovery formed another major part of the exercise. Cyber teams used the Central Equipment Identity Register, or CEIR, portal operated by the Union government to trace mobile phones reported missing or stolen. Through this process, police stations under North Zone 2 located 348 phones from different manufacturers, together valued at Rs 51.20 lakh.
The use of CEIR places the recovery within a wider digital policing system in which mobile device identifiers can assist authorities in locating phones after they are reported missing. In this case, the portal was used by cyber teams as part of investigations into residents’ lost or stolen devices. The police report did not provide a separate breakdown of the phones by police station, manufacturer or individual case.
The property return programme also illustrates the administrative steps that follow a police recovery. Seizure during an investigation does not by itself restore an item to its owner; authorities must establish ownership and complete the applicable legal formalities before handing it over. The Kandivali event brought those recoveries together in one public distribution programme.
Citizens who received their property thanked Mumbai Police after the items were returned. The police report identified the recovered gold, cash, vehicles and mobile phones as material seized during investigations into theft and online cybercrime cases in the jurisdiction of the participating North Mumbai police stations.
The return was conducted at Kandivali police station under the supervision of DCP Sandeep Ghuge. Further details about individual cases, arrests or pending investigations were not provided in the report.
