Five days after the golden-haired, nine-year-old Labrador was snatched from his master’s hands while on an afternoon stroll, Hobbes was found, unhurt, tethered to a fence of a house’s terrace in a village nearly 7km away.
His owners, who had put up posters in nearby areas for information on Hobbes, said they were led to their beloved pet by a caller who had read the report on Hobbes’ disappearance on January 18. The caller, they said, did not identify himself but had noticed a golden Labrador, which looked similar to Hobbes’ picture in the report, brought to a neighbouring house around the same time.
Supriya Chawla, daughter-in-law of wing commander B R Mehta (retd) from whose hand Hobbes was snatched on January 17, said they got a call around 9.15am on Saturday. The caller asked for Mehta, a name he had seen in the report.
“He refused to divulge his name but directed us to Begumpur Khatola village,” Supriya said. “When we reached the house and asked the its occupants about Hobbes, they admitted a dog had been brought to them three days ago by the driver of an auto the family owns. They handed over Hobbes immediately and also gave the mobile number of the auto driver.”
The dog was taken to a doctor for a check. “He is fine. He is sleeping a lot but looking relaxed now. I want to thank the media for the support in helping us find Hobbes. The report helped in not only finding him but in also raising awareness about dog-snatching in Gurgaon,” said Mehta (80), who lodged an FIR of snatching at Sadar police station.
Police said the auto driver, 45-year-old Suresh, had been taken into in custody for questioning. Suresh claimed a drunk man had left the dog near his auto on January 17. “He says he took the dog to his house but his family members refused to keep him,” said Surender Singh, the investigating officer. “The next day, he went to his employer and asked them to keep the dog for some days. We are trying to nab the main accused who snatched the dog after pushing the senior citizen”, Singh added.
Hobbes was snatched around 4pm on Tuesday afternoon on the green belt outside Vatika City.