The city police on Monday arrested a car driver for allegedly stealing gold and diamond-studded jewellery worth over Rs.25 lakh from Park Hotel at Somajiguda three days ago.
A pawn broker, who kept the jewellery and lent money without verifying its credentials, was also caught. The police said the arrested person B. Bhaskar Naik (22) hailing from Mahabubnagar district was working as a car driver at the house of L. Purushotham Goud of Gaddianaram in Dilsukhnagar. He took the jewellery box from a suitcase when Mr. Goud’s family went to the hotel to attend a function on Friday.
Later, he went to a money lender Laxminarayan Kumawath (23) from Balanagar and mortgaged a necklace worth Rs. 5 lakh for just Rs. 50,000, said DCP (West) V. Satyanarayana while interacting with media persons here on Monday.
The family lodged a complaint with the Punjagutta police on Sunday after which the police conducted a probe and zeroed in on Bhaskar. He was working as a driver at the house of Mr. Goud for the last one month. Mr. Satyanarayana said that hereafter the police will take action against the pawn brokers and money lenders if they mortgage stolen property.