Jewellery Goes Missing From Hospital. CCTV Shows Dog Took It Away

In a bizarre incident, police investigating the disappearance of jewellery worth nearly Rs 4 lakh from a government hospital in Madhya Pradesh discovered that the "thief" they were looking for was not a person, but a dog.

The incident unfolded in the surgical ward of the District Hospital in Mandsaur, where a dog allegedly walked in, picked up a woman's bag containing gold and silver ornaments in its mouth and wandered away. The entire episode was captured on CCTV.

The bag belonged to Latabai Valmiki, a resident of Kayampur under the Nahargarh police station limits. Her son had been admitted to the hospital with an arm injury, and she was carrying a bag containing jewellery and some cash.

According to her complaint, the bag went missing sometime between 1 am and 6 am on the intervening night of Sunday and Monday. It contained a silver waist belt, silver anklets, a gold mangalsutra, two gold rings, silver ghungroos, gold beads, earrings, a nose ring and silver toe rings, along with approximately Rs 2,000 in cash.

The combined value of the valuables was estimated at around Rs 4 lakh. When Latabai realised that the bag was missing, she approached the City Kotwali police station and lodged a complaint. Considering the value of the missing jewellery, police immediately began searching for a suspected thief. Head Constable Ajay Solanki was tasked with tracing the bag.

Investigators scanned footage from CCTV cameras installed across the hospital premises and were surprised by what they found.

The footage allegedly showed a dog picking up the bag from the surgical ward and carrying it away in its mouth. Police tracked the animal's movement through footage from other cameras across the hospital complex. The trail eventually led them to an open area within the premises, where the missing bag was found.

To Latabai's relief, the jewellery and cash inside were reportedly intact. After completing the necessary formalities, police returned the recovered valuables to her on Monday evening. She thanked the police team for tracing the bag and ensuring that jewellery worth lakhs was safely restored to her.

Kotwali police station in-charge Pushpendra Singh Rathore said: "Latabai, a resident of Kayampur under the Nahargarh police station area, had come to the district hospital for the treatment of her child. In the morning, she realised that the bag containing her valuable jewellery, which she had carefully kept in a storage cabinet near her child, was missing. She came to the police station in the evening and informed us about it". 

"During the examination of CCTV footage, at around 4 am a dog was seen entering the area and carrying the bag away. When Latabai was questioned, she told us that biscuits and some other food items were also kept inside the bag. It is possible that the dog picked up the bag because of the smell of the food. With the help of other CCTV cameras, the police searched for the dog and the missing bag. By following its movement, the police succeeded in recovering the bagsaid," Rathore said.

The unusual episode may have ended without any financial loss, but it has raised questions about security arrangement at the hospital. A stray dog was apparently able to enter the surgical ward, move around the premises and carry away a patient's attendant's bag without being stopped.

While CCTV cameras helped police trace and recover the valuables, the incident has put the spotlight on security, stray-animal control and overall management at one of Mandsaur's key government health facilities.