E-Paper
Police on the hunt for man, five others for stealing gold jewellery worth ₹3.20 cr
Mahesh lived with his wife on a mezzanine floor in the back of the shop and had easy access to the shop through the staircase which helped them commit the crime. He along with his four associates entered the room at around 11.45pm and later decamped the valuable ornaments at 6.30am
Thane: The Ulhasnagar police along with the local crime branch have formed five teams to nab the suspected Nepali watchman and his wife with four other accomplices, who allegedly broke into a jewellery shop in Ulhasnagar, and stole 6 kilograms of gold ornaments worth ₹3.20 crore. They are all still at large, said the police.
The incident took place at Vijay Laxmi Jewelry shop situated at Shiru Chowk in Ulhasnagar camp No. 5, during the wee hours on Tuesday. The watchman, identified as Mahesh, opened the back grill channel door of the shop and let four of his associates enter and stole gold jewellery worth ₹3.20 crore.
The shop owner, Parshuram Badlani, got to know about the theft on Tuesday morning when Badlani went to the shop and called Mahesh to open the shop, but he did not pick up.
Badlani opened the shop and found that the locker was damaged by a gas cutter and 6 kilograms of gold ornaments worth ₹3.20 crore were missing. He approached the police and lodged a case.
When the Ulhasnagar police reached the shop, they went through the CCTV footage of the building and saw four people entering the shop from the backside.
“We rushed to the spot and found the locker was cut down by a gas cutter. We found three gas cylinders and two gas cutters on the spot,” said Dilip Phulpagare, Senior Police Inspector. “During the probing, we learned that Mahesh joined work 15 days ago as a replacement for the regular watchman, who went to his hometown.
According to the police, Mahesh lived with his wife on a mezzanine floor in the back of the shop and had easy access to the shop through the staircase which helped them commit the crime.
He along with his four associates entered the room at around 11.45pm and later decamped the valuable ornaments at 6.30am.
The investigation officer said that they have alerted informers as well as taken the aid of technical intelligence and very soon will find the location of the accused and nab them.
Police said that the accused chose this day for committing the robbery, as every shop in the market is closed on Tuesdays.
A case has been registered under section 380 (Theft in dwelling house), 381 (Theft by clerk or servant of property in possession of master), 454 (Lurking House trespass), 457 (Lurking house-trespass or house-breaking by night), and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code.
