In a daring daylight crime, four armed robbers struck at a jewellery showroom in Mira Road, held the staffers at gunpoint and decamped with gold and diamond-studded ornaments worth lakhs of rupees.
According to the police, the incident was reported from S.Kumar Gold and Diamonds, a jewellery showroom located in the Shanti Nagar area of Mira Road, on Thursday afternoon. Pretending to be customers, four men wearing normal Covid-19 prevention masks got down from two bikes and walked into the showroom at around 2 pm. While the sales-staff were displaying gold chains and other ornaments, two of them whipped out firearms and filled a bag with gold and diamond-studded ornaments before rushing out the showroom.
The lone on-duty private security guard was also called inside the showroom by the quartet. However, the drama did not end there. While a duo zoomed away on a bike, the other pair was left stranded as the other bike apparently failed to start, prompting them to abandon the bike and flee on foot towards the direction of the railway station. The entire sequence of events has been captured by the closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras in the shop and getaway routes. The robbers pulled off the whole theft in the space of just ten minutes.
Although the exact amount of the loot is yet to be ascertained, the value of the ornaments would run into several lakhs that could reportedly cross even Rs 1 crore, sources said.
Senior police officials including DCP Amit Kale and ACP’s Vilas Sanap and Shashikant Bhosale immediately reached the spot and inspected the crime scene.
Despite the bustling presence of people in a busy market area, the robbers brazenly managed to enter the showroom and decamp with the stolen booty in broad daylight, thus posing a formidable new-year challenge before the recently elevated police apparatus in the form of the Mira Bhayandar-Vasai Virar (MBVV) commissionerate.
“Prevention and detection both are our duties. The crime has occurred and we are confident of detecting it soon,” said DCP Amit Kale while speaking to media persons. Meanwhile, a case under section 394 of the IPC and the relevant sections of the Arms Act has been registered at the Naya Nagar police station. Further investigations were underway.
