Jewellery store, 200 m from Sahibabad police station, robbed of items worth ₹2 crore

The incident took place around 1pm at Prem Shree Jewellers, a showroom located barely 200 metres from the Sahibabad police station at Shyam Park Main locality. Police said the robbers were wearing pollution masks and had covered their faces with a handkerchief to hide their identities.

Armed robbers on Wednesday afternoon barged inside a jewellery showroom located barely 200 metres from a police station in Sahibabad and fled with cash, gold, silver and diamond jewellery items estimated to be worth around ₹2 crore. However, the police said the valuation is being done before arriving at a final figure.

The robbery took place around 1pm at Prem Shree Jewellers, a showroom located barely 200 metres from the Sahibabad police station at Shyam Park Main locality. (Sakib Ali / HT Photo)

The incident took place around 1pm at Prem Shree Jewellers, a showroom located barely 200 metres from the Sahibabad police station at Shyam Park Main locality. Police said the robbers were wearing pollution masks and had covered their faces with a handkerchief to hide their identities.

This is the second incident after Diwali where robbers followed the modus operandi of barging into a jewellery shop wearing pollution masks and fleeing on their parked motorcycles after robbing the store. In the earlier incident, four robbers who had worn pollution masks and covered their faces with helmets, had looted a jewellery showroom in Govindpuram on November 6 before fleeing on their parked motorcycles outside the store.

Police said the five robbers in Wednesday’s incident arrived on two motorcycles, as was captured in the CCTV footage. While four of them robbed the store, one stood guard outside. The CCTV footage also showed that they were armed with some kind of pistols.

“Afterwards, they fled on motorcycles which were parked outside. The robbers were wearing pollution masks and had also covered their faces with handkerchiefs. One of them was wearing a helmet. They were aged around 25-26 years. We estimate that the items and cash they took away might be well over ₹50 lakh but a final valuation will take time,” he told HT on Wednesday afternoon.

Soon after the incident, Rahul had told television journalists that the estimated value of all the stolen items could go up to ₹2 crore.

However, Rahul’s brother-in-law and shop owner Manish, on Wednesday evening, declined to comment on the valuation.

“The forensic examination of the scene of crime is being done by the police. Once it is completed, we will be able to check for the articles which were taken away. At present, I cannot say anything about the valuation. This is the first incident in the market. We have been running the shop here for 20 years now,” Manish said.

Police sources said the robbers were doing a recce of the shop since the last four-to-five days and were seen in different CCTV footages taken from other shops in the market. Sources said three of them were seated on one motorcycle and two on another. They added the robbers entered the market from the main road and fled from a narrow lane.

After the incident, the police roped in teams from the forensic department and the crime branch to trace the robbers. Officers said the incident seemed similar to the one which took place during daytime at Govindpuram on November 6.

“The district police have deputed three-to-four teams to track the criminals. We are investigating the entire modus operandi and strictest action will be taken. Four of them went inside the shop and gave way to the incident within five minutes. They had come on two motorcycles,” Ram Kumar, inspector general of police (Meerut range), said.

Senior superintendent of police Vaibhav Krishna said a formal complaint was received from the victim and an FIR under IPC Section 395 (Dacoity) was lodged at the Sahibabad police station.

“We are trying to figure out similarities in the two incidents. Teams have initiated investigation. The valuation is yet to be received,” he added.