The Hindu Business Line : Mumbai police hunt down jewel thieves

They seemed to have scripted a neat plan, executed it perfectly and coolly escaped with a booty of jewels worth Rs 6 crore from the Alukkas outlet situated between the Panjagutta police station and the Chief Minister's residence.

But later on, they fell back on the run-of-the-mill climax like many jewel thieves do. They landed in Mumbai in a hurry to make a quick buck. A move which failed them, and instead of the riches, it landed them in the police net.

Barely 48 hours after the daring robbery in Hyderabad, the Mumbai police, acting on a tip-off, swooped down on a hotel this morning and arrested two persons - the main accused Vinod Singh of Uttar Pradesh and one Ajay Jhaveri Singh, a jewel merchant from Surat who came to strike a deal. Another accused Srikant Singh, who assisted Vinod, escaped.

All of the booty stolen from the Joy Alukkas group outlet was recovered, the police said.

Yet another factor that might have helped in the chase was a copy of Gujarat Times dated April 14, which they seemed to have left behind, and indicated that they could be from Gujarat, Maharastra region.

Sensational robbery

On Monday evening, the twosome managed to sneak in onto the terrace of the multi-storeyed complex (that housed a hallmark office as well) and had snacks, waited there till the dead of the night. They came down to the ground floor using the staircase and broke open the shutter by cutting off the fastener. They took care not to break the lock as it might make noise and alert the guards.

Then they broke open the rear wooden door using screwdriver or rods. The thieves took care not to show their faces to the closed-circuit cameras. All the cameras could record was their silhouettes as they used pen-torches. But those silhouettes did give some indications - that one of them was tall with ahunchback and other was short-statured.

Negligence on the part of the showroom managers made the job easier for the thieves. While seasoned jewellers chose to keep the display items in safes after the display, Alukkas still kept them on display. The two thieves broke the glass enclosures, muffling the impact using a thick cloth and stuffed the booty in bags.

The thieves spared huge reserves of gold stored in a safe as it might trigger alarm. They went up the staircase and climbed down using a rope and made good their escape, leaving behind screwdrivers, crowbar, a small drilling and hacksaw blades packed in a local newspaper.

Hyderabad, which has seen a spurt in gold and jewellery shops, has also had its growing share of jewellery heists in the recent past.

More Stories on : Economic Offences | Gems & Jewellery

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page