The curious case of the missing jewels

The case illustrates the rising gap between India’s poor and very rich, the top few per cent of the population who possess over a third of the country’s wealth and assets. Naidu’s explanation for his family’s cluelessness about the large-scale looting only emphasises the inequity. “My mother keeps many boxes, some of which contain unused valuables which are rarely checked,” he said. “We have many homes and guest-houses and it is difficult to keep track.”