Four nabbed for robbing jewellery shops since 2011

One of them was a civil services aspirant

March 23, 2018 09:35 pm | Updated March 24, 2018 03:34 pm IST

 Nivesh, Shankar, Shivamurthy and Jagadish.

Nivesh, Shankar, Shivamurthy and Jagadish.

For seven years, four men targeted jewellery stores and stole gold amounting to over Rs. 9 crore, bought property and even started a real estate business with their ill-gotten gains. Their past, however, caught up with them after an attempt to rob yet another jeweller.

The police, on Friday, arrested Shivamurthy, 30, his brother Shankar, 26, their associates Nivesh Kumar, 29, and Jagadish, 30, and recovered around 43 kilograms of gold, two cars worth Rs. 57 lakh, three motorcycles, expensive gadgets and clothes from them.

According to the police, Shivamurthy is a high school dropout. brother Shankar is a B.Com. graduate who had attempted the civil services exam. “He had enrolled in a private tutorial, but failed in the prelims in the first attempt,” said the police. The brothers decided that looting jewellery stores was an easier way to make a living.

Their friend Nivesh, who worked as a facility manager in an MNC, joined them. Between 2011 and 2012, they amassed 8 kilograms of gold and other valuables. They met Jagadish while trying to sell the stolen gold in Sangli, Maharashtra. “He assured them that he could sell the items in Sri Lanka for a good price,” the police said.

“After a series of successful burglaries, they bought two cars and opened a real estate agency under the name SR Business Solutions in Yelahanka. They purchased 11 acres in Sira in Tumakuru district and enjoyed a lavish lifestyle,” said Chethan Singh Rathore, DCP ( north division) who headed the investigation. “Whenever they were low on cash, they would hit a jewellery store.”

Training and tutorials

Over the years, they perfected their modus operandi. They invested in bullet-proof jackets, which they bought online, and learned to make crude bombs to scare security guards. According to the police, the accused watched over 50 films where the central theme was a bank or jewellery heist. They also sourced video clips of bank robberies, said the police.

A fiasco

Things went awry when they tried to rob a Chemmanur Jewellers store in Subramanya Nagar in February this year. They barged into the shop, attacked a guard and tried to hurl a petrol bomb to scare the staff.

But they failed to notice the second guard who was in plainclothes and opened fire on them. Three of the accused were able to escape as they were wearing bullet-proof vests. However, Shivamurthy sustained burn injuries when he was caught in the fire that erupted after he lobbed the petrol bomb.

The gang fled to Devanahalli. However, the entire operation was recorded on CCTV cameras, which the police used to track them down.

“The accused had sold a majority of the gold jewellery in Sri Lanka, and efforts are on to recover the items,” said Mr. Rathore.

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