Bengaluru’s 'biggest' gold heist cracked years later after murder case breakthrough: Report

The breakthrough came not from the heist itself, but a murder investigation in Mangaluru.

A bold daylight robbery at a prominent Bengaluru jewellery store in 2007 stunned the city. The loot, over 36 kg of gold, vanished without a trace, and despite CCTV footage, investigators struggled for leads. It took a separate murder case in coastal Karnataka, nearly 350 km away, to finally break open what remains one of the city's 'biggest' gold heists, Indian Express reported.

The incident unfolded on August 11, 2007, at Chemmanur Jewellery showroom in Kammanahalli.

According to the report, the incident unfolded on August 11, 2007, at Chemmanur Jewellery showroom in Kammanahalli, one of Bengaluru’s busiest neighbourhoods.

Around 10.45 am, as employees were unpacking ornaments, a man walked in through the partially opened shutter and pointed a gun at the staff. Five others followed him, each armed, herding the staff into the locker room and seizing their phones.

The robbers spoke in a mix of Kannada, Tamil, Hindi, and English as they swiftly looted the counters. They ignored silver items and made no attempt to shut the shop's front shutter. Before fleeing in a grey Indica, they smashed four CCTV cameras, but not before the cameras had already captured most of the heist.

Despite the CCTV footage, investigators couldn’t identify the robbers due to limitations in technology.

Turning point in the case

The breakthrough came not from the heist itself, but a murder investigation in Mangaluru. On July 30, 2007, just days before the robbery, real estate businessman Subba Rao was shot dead in the coastal city. While probing the case, police inspector Jayanth Vasudev Shetty received a tip linking Umesh Shetty to the murder.

Phone records placed Umesh in both Mangaluru during the murder and in Kammanahalli on the day of the heist. But by then, he had gone off the radar.

Investigators turned to his associate, Prakash. In a dramatic move, a woman constable posed as someone romantically interested in him. When Prakash agreed to meet, he was arrested. Through him, police learned Umesh was a cricket and gambling enthusiast, and tracked him down at a local tournament. “He was portrayed as a don,” Jayanth recalled according to the publication. “But when we nabbed him, he urinated in his pants.”

Umesh’s arrest led to the recovery of 5 kg of gold hidden in a fridge at a relative’s house. More arrests followed across Chikkamagaluru, Koppa and Hassan, leading to the gang’s wider network.

The mastermind, Manish Shetty, had served time in Nashik jail, where he befriended other criminals and planned the heist with two Punjab-based accomplices. He was arrested in Coimbatore on September 4, 2007.

In all, 17 people were arrested. Though chargesheets were filed, all were released on bail. Manish Shetty, freed in 2015, resurfaced in the underworld and was eventually shot dead outside a Mangaluru bar in 2020, another victim of gang rivalries.

Jayanth Shetty, who cracked the case, later became Superintendent of Police and received several honours before retiring in 2015. He now lives in Mangaluru.