Police on Saturday dug out stolen gold and silver ornaments worth Rs. 40 lakh from a building’s wall, which ‘thieves’ had got cemented after hiding them inside it at Mangalhat.
The accused, Nandulal Singh and Shyamraj Singh, both in their mid-20s, entered the house of the latter’s maternal uncle at Dilawar Gunj in Mangalhat using a duplicate key 11 days ago. Since Shyamraj had access to his uncle’s house, he had duplicate keys of the main door and even the almirah where the jewellery was kept.
The duo collected gold and silver ornaments weighing 1.6 kg and 1.3 kg, respectively, West Zone DCP G. Sudheer Babu said at a press conference.
They kept the jewellery in a plastic box and went to Nandulal’s house.
They dug a hole on the wall of the third floor of the building, which was under construction, and kept the box inside it before getting the wall cemented.
“Interestingly, the house is being built by Nandulal with the money he accrued through sale of gold and silver jewellery he had earlier burgled from two other houses in Mangalhat,” the DCP said. Initially, police were unaware of the duo’s involvement in the theft.
On learning that the duo was seen moving in the locality, police picked them up for questioning. During interrogation, Nandulal admitted to the offence and led investigators to his building under construction.
Police dug the wall and recovered the hidden jewellery.
The accused also revealed to police that they had burgled the house of one Udesh Singh in the same area three years ago.
Three weeks ago, they struck at another house in the locality. Curiously, even the house owner was unaware of the theft since the duo used duplicate keys to enter the house.
