Mumbai: Six people, including a woman, have been arrested by the Matunga police in connection with a case of dacoity of gold dust worth ₹27 lakhs from an employee working with BM Jewellers.
The incident was first reported to the police on December 19 by a man named Balram Singh, 26, who works as a manager at the jewellery shop.
Singh was returning from West Bengal via train. He got down at Dadar railway station, and boarded a taxi to go towards his office in Lower Parel. As he reached near Ramee Guestline Hotel, outside the railway station, two men stopped his vehicle. They claimed to have gotten hit by Singh’s taxi and started to create a ruckus.
“All of it happened within 1 to 2 minutes, some more people gathered, they assaulted the victim and amid these happenings, they stole one of the bag which was inside the taxi,” said a police official.
Police initiates probe into robbery
The investigation began with questioning the employee (victim) and other employees but police managed no clues whatsoever. Footages of all CCTVs were scanned including the ones installed inside the railway station.
“We understood the gang was quite huge. The victim was stalked by some while he was inside the train, then some followed him at the railway station, till he made the exit. Some tailed him outside railway station and finally the main act began as his taxi started moving. After completing the act of robbery, all of them moved at different directions. Some took a train, some walked towards another direction while one woman was seen taking a taxi, with the bag the victim carried. Her taxi went to Titwala (outside Mumbai), and the ones who boarded the train, got down at Thane railway station,” said an official.
Multiple teams started tailing the directions the accused moved. “At least 10 to 12 times we went to Titwala, stayed there to keep an eye on the moments. We didn’t have the face of the accused, but we had their locations, that was procured using Call Data Record (CDR) which matched to those from the crime spot,” the officer added.
On the D-Day, the police entered the house and spotted the same woman, Parul Shrivastava, 28. Upon searching, the same bag was found in her possession. “She kept blocking us at first. Later we realised that while we were talking to her, her husband, the primary accused, managed to escape,” he added.
Accused dacoit discloses his accomplice's names to police
While interrogating Parul, more names came out including one of the employees of BM Jewellers, Satyendra Pandey, 25. A local of Titwala, he is said to be the mastermind, who kept following Singh’s movements starting from Mumbai to West Bengal and back. According to the police, he made the plan and asked people to join. “Since he is the employee there, he very well knew what can be done with the casting gold filling dust. By the time we arrested him, he had converted those dust into gold coins which they, collectively planned to sell and make money by sharing amongst,” the officer said.
The other arrested accused are Aakash Chauhan (30), Atish Misal (21) and Vijay More (34) - all three from Kopri in Thane and Anuj Sharma (32) from Ghatkopar. The accused Parul’s husband is currently on the run, the police are looking for him.
The six accused were presented in court on Tuesday, and they were remanded to police custody. Meanwhile, police managed to recover Rs 24 lakhs from the accused, in the form of gold coins, gold dust and cash. They have been slapped with the charges of dacoity, robbery, criminal conspiracy, assault, under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code.
