2 arrested for stealing gold worth ₹1.24 crore from Shivaji Park jewellery shop

Mumbai: Two members of a gang were arrested for allegedly stealing 2

Mumbai: Two members of a gang were arrested for allegedly stealing 2.5 kilograms of gold ornaments worth ₹1.24 crore from a jewellery shop in Shivaji Park, Dadar West. Unit 5 of the Mumbai police crime branch has recovered the stolen jewellery from the arrested accused, identified as Vinod Rambali Singh, 52, and Paras Jagolia, 50.

2 arrested for stealing gold worth ₹1.24 crore from Shivaji Park jewellery shop

Police are on the lookout for their third accomplice, who conducts recce before the two break-in jewellery shops.

Police officials said Singh is a resident of Nalasopara and a habitual offender, who has several cases registered at LT Marg and DB Marg police stations in Mumbai and Kalyan for allegedly stealing gold ornaments from jewellery shops. Jagolia lives in Borivali and helps Singh in selling his stolen gold in the market.

According to the police, the complainant, Sonali Mutkekar, 46, owns GB Pednekar Jewellery shop on RK Vaidya Road in Dadar West and has been working in the shop for the past 20 years. She opens the shop in two shifts, one from 10am to 2pm and from 4pm to 9pm. During the afternoon recess, she goes to her residence at Gokhale Road in Dadar West for lunch.

In her statement to the police, she said, every day all gold ornaments are shifted from showcases to the locker while closing the shop at night. The incident occurred on August 24 in the afternoon, after her mother closed the shop at 2pm and went home for lunch. She found that the bathroom grille of the shop was broken and all the gold ornaments were missing from the locker when she returned to the shop at 5pm.

She then informed the neighbouring shop owner, and also reported the incident to the police. Accordingly, a case was registered at the Shivaji Park police station and handed over to Unit 5 for investigation. Six police teams were formed to nab the culprits.

Police officials said the accused were caught on CCTV cameras installed in the shop, but the footage was not clear.

“After scrutinising the CCTV footage of the cameras installed in the vicinity of the shop, we identified one of the accused who had visited the shop a month before the incident,” said police inspector Ghanshyam Nair of unit 5.

“He wanted to buy a gold ring and asked the owner to reduce the price by ₹2,000 but as she refused to do so, he did not buy the ring. He then conducted a recce of the area and learnt that the shop remains closed between 2 pm to 4 pm. Singh too visited the shop a day before they broke-in it by breaking the bathroom grille at the back side of the shop. The next day he came with his associate, who kept watch outside, while Singh went inside and removed gold ornaments and the two then fled from the shop,” Nair added.

Singh has bought and melted the stolen gold ornaments at his house and gave it to Jagolia to sell it to some jeweller, said the officer, adding that they first arrested Singh from Nalasopara where he stayed in a rented house, while his family lives in Uttar Pradesh. After questioning Singh, Jagolia was arrested from Ahmedabad. He confessed that he went to Ahmedabad to sell the stolen gold, to avoid any unwanted suspicion.

The officer said they have recovered all of the stolen ornaments from Jagolia.

Both the accused were produced before a metropolitan magistrate court and remanded in police custody till September 8.