Mumbai | Nearly three years after a man's gold jewellery of Rs 40 lakh was stolen from a local train in Mumbai, the railway police have recovered it and returned it to the owner in compliance with a court order, an official said.

The theft was reported in November 2023 by Talha Mohammad Zakir Ansari (33), who was travelling from Ambernath in Thane to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) in south Mumbai on a local train.

Ansari was carrying a bag containing jewellery. He accidentally got off at Byculla station without the bag.

After crossing the foot overbridge, he realised the bag had been left inside the train. He immediately boarded another train to CSMT and searched for it, but it was missing. Suspecting theft, he lodged a complaint with the CSMT Railway Police Station, the official said.

The police subsequently launched an investigation, analysing CCTV footage and using technical surveillance and intelligence inputs to identify the suspect.

They later arrested Akhtar Hussain Mustafa Hussain Shaikh (62), a resident of Ambernath, and recovered the stolen 272 grams of gold jewellery from his possession, the official said.

The recovered jewellery was kept in the police property room during the course of legal proceedings.

Last month, a court directed that the recovered gold jewellery be returned to the complainant. Following completion of the required legal formalities, the valuables were handed over to Ansari, the official said.