A train ticket found at the crime scene has helped the police crack a month-old case of theft at Mayura Jewellers in Nerul. The Nerul police arrested three accused, identified as Ashok Sarvan Sharma (29), Sayeed Hussain Noor Shaikh (22) and Firoz Ibrahim Shaikh (19). The police suspect the involvement of at least 11 members of a gang belonging to Jharkhand in the case. Joint Commissioner of Police Prashant Burde said valuables worth ₹50.89 lakh had been stolen, and ornaments worth ₹4.50 lakh had been recovered.
On May 11, two people posing as mango sellers approached the owner of the flat located behind Mayura Jewellers in Vighnaharta Sadan, Sector 23, in Darave village at Nerul. They agreed to pay a sum of ₹5,000 and an advance of ₹2000 to rent out the ground-floor flat, which shared a common wall with the jewellery shop. On May 14, Gopal Singh Kannan Singh Sadana (27), the owner of Mayura Jewellers, shut his shop at around 11 p.m. The next morning, Mr. Sadana on opening the shop found a hole in the wall and the locker ripped open with a gas cutter.
The only lead in the case was a local train ticket to Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus bought at Sanpada Railway Station. Deputy Commissioner (Zone I) Sudhakar Pathare said Sayeed Shaikh was nabbed after the time of issuance of the ticket matched with the time a CCTV image of him captured at the station. A detection team of Assistant Police Inspector Rajesh Gajjal and Assistant Police Inspector Sushilkumar Gaikwad nabbed Shaikh from Masjid Bunder after laying a trap for five days. Shaikh led the police to a flat in Uran where the accused divided the loot. Firoz Shaikh, a relative of the absconding main accused who was staying in the flat, was also arrested.
Nabbed from Jharkhand
“Though Firoz Shaikh was not involved in the theft, he took a portion of the loot. Silver ornaments were recovered from him,” said Senior Police Inspector Ashok Rajput. The accused gave the police leads about Sharma. “The two-member police team stayed in Jharkhand for 15 days and nabbed Sharma. His portion of the loot is yet to be recovered,” said Mr. Burde.
The police said the gang members belonged to Jharkhand and specialised in stealing jewellery. Kiran Patil, Assistant Commissioner of Police (Turbhe Division), said, “The gang first identified a jewellery shop which shared a common wall with a flat. The thickness of the wall in this case was just nine inches.” The duo who posed as tenants are yet to be arrested. The arrested accused are accomplices who on the night of May 14 broke the wall.
Sharma was specially called in to open the locker using a gas cutter. The accused first scratched the wall using a screwdriver. When the bricks were visible, they carefully started scratching the lines between the bricks and removed some of the blocks. Soon there was enough space for them to enter the shop. “The accused have been remanded in police custody till Saturday. They will be produced in court again to extend their custody,” said Mr. Rajput.
