Ishan Ghulam Gaus, an English teacher from Farazdaar High School, Mahad, had come to Mumbai last week to collect 100 English answersheets of the SSC exams from R M Bhatt High School, Parel.

After collecting the papers, Gaus went to the Mumbai Central State Transport stand to board a bus for Mahad. He had divided the papers into two lots of 50 answersheets each. One lot was kept in a briefcase, and the other in a cloth bag.

According to the statement of Gaus given to Nagpada police, he kept the briefcase on an overhead carrier, and the cloth bag near his feet. The bus left the stand at 10.15 pm.

At around 11 pm, when the bus reached near Sion, Gaus realised that the briefcase kept on the carrier was missing. Still, he proceeded to Mahad. On receiving instructions from his headmaster, he returned to Mumbai the next day and lodged a complaint withNagpada police station on Friday.

Senior police inspector of Nagpada police station, Rafiq Shaikh, said: ``Some bag-lifter must have presumed that the briefcase contains some valuables, which is why he stole the bag. We hope to crack the case soon.''