KOLKATA: An Indian thief who swallowed a gold necklace he snatched yesterday was forced by police to eat bananas in hopes that the natural laxative would get him to yield the loot, police said.

Sheikh Mohsin, 36, grabbed the $1,110 (BD418) necklace from a businessman's wife in Kolkata as she shopped for toys.

"He was immediately arrested as the woman shouted for help," Kolkata deputy police commissioner Ajoy Kumar said.

"But the necklace could not be found despite a thorough search.

Mohsin also denied having committed the crime." But Mohsin's protestations of innocence were cut short when one of the policemen who arrested him said he had seen the man pop the necklace into his mouth.

Mohsin was then taken for a stomach X-ray, which clearly showed the necklace in his stomach.

"Doctors advised us to feed him bananas" as it works as a natural laxative, Kumar said.

At first, Mohsin refused to eat the fruit but changed his mind after he was told that doctors would cut open his stomach to recover the necklace if he did not eat the bananas, police said.

At the last count, Mohsin had eaten 40 bananas, Kumar said, adding: "But we are yet to recover the chain."