Maharashtra: Thief returns TV stolen from poet Narayan Surve’s home, leaves apology note
‘I did not know that this was the home of Narayan Surve, else I would have never stolen from here,’ the note read.
A thief who burgled a house in Neral in Maharashtra’s Raigad district returned some of the stolen items, including a television set, and left an apology note after realising that he had broken into the home of the late Marathi poet Narayan Surve, The Indian Express reported on Tuesday.
Surve wrote poems depicting the struggles of the urban working class. He died on August 16, 2010.
The poet’s daughter Sujata Ghare and her husband Ganesh Ghare currently live in the house in Neral. The couple had left to visit their son in Virar on June 26, the newspaper reported. On July 14, a neighbour called to tell them their toilet window was broken and the grill was bent.
When the couple returned to Neral, they found several items missing. “We have a big photograph of my father [Narayan Surve] on the wall,” Sujata Ghare told The Indian Express. “On the pillar next to the wall, we found a note written by the thief.”
The note, written in Marathi, said: “I did not know that this was the home of Narayan Surve, else I would have never stolen from here. Forgive me! I am returning some of the things that I have stolen, including the television. Sorry.”
Sujata Ghare said that although the thief had returned the television set, other items, including eight taps, cooking powder, a table fan, utensils and a five-litre bottle of cooking oil, were still missing.
In the note, the thief also promised to return the rest of the items, the Hindustan Times reported.
On Monday, the couple informed the Neral police station, following which a first information report was registered against the thief under sections pertaining to theft and trespassing or breaking into a house under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
Inspector Shivaji Dhawale said that the accused person would be traced soon based on the CCTV footage and the fingerprints found on the television set.
According to the police, the thief may have realised that the house belonged to Surve after seeing his photograph.
Also read: ‘My daily bread is my daily doubt’: Mumbai mill worker Narayan Surve’s poetry in translation
