Four persons, including a man claiming to be a freelance reporter, were arrested for allegedly stealing jewellery worth ₹ 50 lakh in east Delhi's Shahdara, the police said on Saturday.
Jewellery on commission
Nitesh Jain, who owns a shop in Chandni Chowk that sells jewellery on a commission basis, told the police two days earlier that two men fled with jewellery worth ₹ 50 lakh which belonged to him, said Deputy Commissioner of Police (Shahdara) Nupur Prasad.
“Jain told us that he came in contact with Jitender and Vijay Gahlot through a common friend regarding a property deal. Gahlot contacted him to purchase jewellery for a wedding at his uncle’s place,” said Ms. Prasad.
He also arranged a meeting between Mr. Jain and his “uncle and aunt” at Rail Yatri Niwas on January 9 to gain Jain’s trust, the DCP added. However, on January 17, Gahlot convinced Mr. Jain to meet at River Height Plaza Market at Raj Nagar in Ghaziabad to buy the jewellery, she said.
They were having food and when Mr. Jain got off the car to wash his hands, the accused fled with the jewellery. A team comprising inspector M.C Pandey, SHO(Krishna Nagar) and other policemen was constituted under the supervision of ACP (Gandhi Nagar) Khushal Pal Singh.
CCTV footage
The team gathered information on the basis of the car used in the crime and from the CCTV footage they obtained from Rail Yatri Niwas, police got the pictures of the “uncle and aunt”.
“A trap was laid and Gahlot and Jitender alias Jeetu were arrested. During interrogation, Gahlot and Jeetu disclosed that they came to know that Mr. Jain provides jewellery on commission basis. In association with Surender Singh and Kavita, who played the roles of his uncle and aunt, they planned to and succeeded in cheating him,” she added.
Claims to be reporter
The 21 ornaments, weighing 1,862 gram comprising eight necklaces, four bangles, one pendant set and seven pairs of earrings have been recovered. While Jeetu has previously been involved in theft cases, Gahlot carried a card that had ‘reporter’ written on it and he claimed that he is a freelance journalist, said Ms. Prasad.
