Employee, 3 others held for ₹1.3-cr heist at Malad jewellery store

The four accused were arrested from Rajasthan on Monday, brought to the city on Tuesday and subsequently remanded in police custody

MUMBAI: The Malad police have solved the ₹1.30-crore theft at a jewellery store in Malad with the arrest of an employee of the store and three of his accomplices, who had fled with jewellery and cash from the store 10 days ago.

Employee, 3 others held for ₹1.3-cr heist at Malad jewellery store

The four accused – store employee Khumansingh Dasana, his brother Sohansingh Tulsisingh Dasana, and their accomplices Sumansingh Dasana and Ganeshsingh Kadecha – were arrested from Rajasthan on Monday, brought to the city on Tuesday and subsequently remanded in police custody.

“During interrogation, they confessed to committing the theft by swapping the shop key in the bunch of keys the owner had. Most of the jewellery they stole has been recovered and the remaining will be recovered soon,” a police officer familiar with the case said, requesting anonymity.

The theft occurred on October 2 at Raksha Jewellers in Malad, owned by Vikas Jain. In his complaint to the police, Jain said that he was away in Sikar, Rajasthan with his family at the time, to seek the blessings of Guru Acharya Mahashraman, and had entrusted the responsibility of managing and taking care of the jewellery store to Bhreulal Rathod, his employee and relative.

On October 3, when Bherulal reached the store, the key he had failed to unlock the entry gate. Upon inquiry, he found that Khumansingh Dasana had shut the store the previous night, but his mobile phone was switched off.

After Bhurelal informed Jain about the situation, he flew back to Mumbai late that night and reached the shop around 11:30pm. Upon examining the key which Bherulal had, they realised that Khumansingh had swapped it with a similar key. They then broke into the store and found it was ransacked, and gold and silver jewelry worth ₹1.30 crore was missing.

“Jain and Bhurelal checked the CCTV footage of a neighbouring shop, which showed Khumansingh entering the shop with three others and later leaving the shop carrying bags,” a police officer said. “Jain then alerted the Malad police.”

During investigation, the police learned that the suspects had escaped to their native place in Rajasthan. Accordingly, the local police were informed and the four accused were apprehended on Monday and brought to Mumbai on Tuesday.

A metropolitan magistrate court in Borivali later remanded the four to police custody.