Navi Mumbai: The Navi Mumbai Anti Extortion Unit arrested a jeweller and his friend for robbing a Kamothe jeweller of 2 kg gold in a week. The accused were first-time offenders who committed the crime to repay gold traders in Zaveri Bazar.
The accused, Shahnavaz Abdul Jabbar Mansuri (22) from Cheetah Camp, a worker at a carpenter’s warehouse and Madansingh Joharsingh Kharvad (27), who runs a jewellery shop at Cheetah Camp, were arrested on Thursday from Rajasthan where they had fled.
According to police, Kharvad, who was working as a helper with another jeweller in Trombay, had recently started his own jewellery business. “On an average, he earned ₹8 lakh per month. But business was down of late. He used to get jewellery from Zaveri Bazar and pay the traders a month-and-a-half after his stock was sold. Since he was facing losses, he was not able to repay the traders. He then planned to rob another jeweller for quick money,” said JCP Prashant Burde.
Kharvad had been surveying jewellery shops in Kamothe, Kharghar, Belapur and Vashi. He was in search of a shop wherein only one person operated the shop and located New Balaji Jewellers at Sector 35 in Kamothe run by Sumesh Jain. On May 16, Kharvad and Mansuri went to the shop to buy a small ring and on May 17, at the time of closing, robbed Mr. Jain by attacking him with a chopper.
“We got CCTV footage from the building as the accused were escaping with the DVR in the shop. The accused may have done a recce well in advance and from the CCTV footage we learnt that even on May 14, he had visited the shop. It showed that while one person had gone inside, another was waiting outside and attended 23-second call,” said a police official. Senior PI Shirish Pawar and his team nabbed the accused and recovered gold worth ₹18.85 lakh out of the ₹65-lakh gold that was stolen. “The rest of the gold, the accused said, has been melted and we will soon recover it as well,” said Mr. Pawar. The accused were produced before court on Friday and have been remanded to police custody till June 1.
