Wants stolen sewing machine, a wedding gift, recovered

Akash Ghai,Tribune News Service,Mohali, December 13

Retired Army personnel are usually known to make rounds of the corridors of power to get their pension or avail of other benefits due to them. But in a rare case, a Mohali-based retired Army man has written a letter to Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal seeking his intervention for the recovery of a 40-year-old sewing machine, a souvenir from his marriage, and more importantly, a reminder of his marital bliss.Vijay Arya, a retired Subedar Major, claimed that the local police did not take his complaint ‘seriously’ as the value of the stolen goods, including the machine in question, was not ‘much’ in their view. “We were emotionally attached to the sewing machine, which was gifted to us by our parents on our wedding day,” said Arya, who claimed to have fought the 1971 war against Pakistan.The theft had taken place at his house in Mohali Phase II on Friday. “The thieves broke open a box lying in the backyard of the house and took along some goods along with the sewing machine,” said Arya.He added that though the cops came after he made a call to them, they did not react properly on learning the monetary value of the stolen goods.“They (the police) were very casual in their approach, saying ‘kuchh nahi hoga’ (nothing would come out of it). So I was forced to write a letter to the Deputy Chief Minister to intervene and get me back my ‘valuable’ machine,” said Arya. Arya also announced to reward the policemen, if they recovered the stolen machine.