Three, including two cops, held for stealing gold worth ₹2.5 crore

An employee of a Mangaluru-based gold trader and two Government Railway Police (GRP) constables have been arrested for allegedly stealing the businessman’s gold worth ₹2.5 crore. The accused have been identified as Nitin Patil, 28, the gold trader’s employee and, Vikas Pawar (30) and Prabhakar Natekar (29), both attached to the Thane GRP

Mumbai: An employee of a Mangaluru-based gold trader and two Government Railway Police (GRP) constables have been arrested for allegedly stealing the businessman’s gold worth ₹2.5 crore.

According to the police, the Mangaluru-based gold trader had sent Nitin Patil to deliver 4.5 kgs of gold to Zaveri Bazaar for making ornaments. (HT Photo)

The accused have been identified as Nitin Patil, 28, the gold trader’s employee and, Vikas Pawar (30) and Prabhakar Natekar (29), both attached to the Thane GRP.

According to the police, the trader had sent Patil to deliver 4.5 kgs of gold to Zaveri Bazaar for making ornaments. He was supposed to take the ornaments back to his employer.

Patil left from Mangaluru on December 7, but went incommunicado. On December 9, he called up his employer saying that he had been robbed. The businessman asked him to approach the nearest police station. Accordingly, Patil approached the Trombay police the same day.

“Patil claimed that he had taken a bus after reaching Navi Mumbai, and met two people, who gave him something to eat that rendered him unconscious. When he regained consciousness, he found himself at the Juinagar railway station and the gold was missing,” Ravindra Ranshevre, senior police inspector, said.

The police checked CCTV camera footage from all bus stops near the station and spotted Patil getting off a bus. “In the footage, Patil was seen to be in full possession of his senses and did not seem drugged or disoriented. We obtained his call detail record (CDR) and questioned him. When circumstantial evidence against him started piling up, he could not offer any satisfactory explanations and ultimately confessed to having planned the theft,” said an officer, who was part of the investigation team.

Patil told the police that he had handed over the gold to the two GRP constables. Patil and Natekar hail from the same village in Sangli. Natekar had taken the gold to his hometown, while Patil cooked up the story about being drugged and robbed.

The trio were subsequently placed under arrest and the gold was recovered from Natekar. They were charged with criminal breach of trust and criminal conspiracy, and remanded to police custody till Tuesday.

Sharad Nanekar, police sub-inspector, said, “Their plan was to hide the gold till the matter cools down and then sell it.”