Six held in Bihar’s Darbhanga jewellery loot case after police encounter, one injured

Six people involved in Darbhanga jewellery loot arrested after police encounter; one injured, firearms, cash, and silver recovered.

Six people involved in a jewellery loot case were arrested after a brief encounter on Saturday, during which one suspect was injured.

STF and Begusarai-Darbhanga police arrest six in Darbhanga robbery case; recovered gold, silver, cash, mobiles, and firearms. (Representative photo)

The operation was carried out by a joint team of the Special Task Force (STF), Begusarai, and Darbhanga police.

Police recovered two firearms, five live cartridges, four cell phones, three motorcycles, and looted silver jewellery from their possession.

Director general (Operation) Kundan Krishnan said that those arrested were identified as Aryan Kumar, Avinash Kumar Sahni, Mangal Kumar, Gautam Kumar Sahni, and Vicky Kumar Paswan, all from Begusarai, and Pawan Jha from Madhubani. Mangal Singh, also a native of Begusarai, was injured in the encounter.

Krishnan said 700g of gold, 20–25kg of silver, ₹10 lakh, and eight mobiles were robbed from Prem Jewelers, located in the Big Market of Darbhanga district, on April 3.

Based on human and technical intelligence, six to seven people were present during the robbery. Analysis and verification revealed that some of these suspected criminals were hiding in a locality of Begusarai district.

The suspects ran into the fields as soon as they saw the police force.

They started firing when the police team chased them. Police also opened fire in self-defence, in which Mangal Singh was injured.

“In the course of interrogation of the arrested and injured Mangal Singh, we got to know that at gunpoint they robbed ₹two lakh from Axis Bank, located in Hasanpur, on March 24,” said the DG, adding that police are interrogating them thoroughly.