Solving Crime | A murder, love trap and cricket tournament: how police cracked Bengaluru’s ‘biggest’ gold heist

It was Saturday, August 11, 2007. In east Bengaluru’s bustling Kammanahalli locality, shops had just opened. Around 10.45 am, staff at the Chemmanur Jewellery showroom—one of the city’s largest gold outlets at the time—were unpacking ornaments, preparing for the day’s sales.

Suddenly, a man walked in through the partially open shutter, pointing a gun at the stunned employees. Five accomplices followed, all armed. The robbers herded the staff into the locker room and seized their phones. One stood guard, while the others looted gold jewellery from the counters, speaking in a mix of Kannada, Tamil, Hindi, and English. Oddly, they ignored the silver items and left the shutter door open.

Before fleeing in a grey Indica car, they destroyed four CCTV cameras— but not before the cameras recorded most of the heist. They escaped with over 36 kg of gold jewellery and Rs 3 lakh. The stolen gold was valued at Rs 4 crore; today its worth would be over Rs 34 crore. A retired police officer later said it was the biggest heist Bengaluru had ever seen.

Then city police commissioner Neelam Achutha Rao and joint commissioner of police (crime) Gopal B Hosur rushed to the scene. The CCTV footage showed the robbers calmly spending nearly 20 minutes inside.

How a murder probe cracked the case

With few leads, Neelam Achutha Rao handed the case to the Central Crime Branch (CCB). While the CCTV footage offered limited visibility, technology then was not advanced enough to identify the culprits.

Meanwhile, the underworld in Mangaluru was active. Just days before the heist, on July 30, 2007, Subba Rao—the owner of Mayur Builders and Promoters—was shot dead in the coastal city.

While the local police registered a murder case, the Anti-Rowdy Squad was assigned the task of nabbing the culprits. Then police inspector Jayanth Vasudev Shetty recalls how an informant tipped him off about Umesh Shetty’s possible involvement. Tracking his phone revealed he had been in Mangaluru at the time of Subba Rao’s murder—and also in Kammanahalli on the day of the heist.

Then police inspector Jayanth Vasudev Shetty is a recipient of the President’s medal, the chief minister’s gold medal, and the UN peacekeeping gold medal. In 2015 he retired as a superintendent of police and is living in Mangaluru. (Express photo)

The undercover love trap

Despite linking Umesh Shetty to both crimes, locating him was tough—he had gone off the radar. Investigators discovered that his close aide was a man named Prakash.

“We devised a risky plan,” recalls Jayanth. “A woman constable posed as someone who had fallen in love with Prakash. Initially sceptical, he eventually believed her and agreed to meet. When he did, we nabbed him.”

Through Prakash, the police learned of Umesh Shetty’s love for cricket and gambling. They tracked him to a local tournament and nabbed him. “He was portrayed as a big don. But when we arrested him, he urinated in his pants,” Jayanth chuckled.

Plotting the heist in jail

Umesh’s arrest led to the recovery of 5 kg of gold stored in a refrigerator at a relative’s home. The police also arrested Gopala Shetty, 26, Balakrishna Shetty, 40, and his wife Hema, 30, in Chikkamagaluru, Nandish, 24, in Koppa, and Somegowda alias Naga, 31, in Hassan. They recovered most of the stolen gold.

But the real mastermind was Manish Shetty. Arrested in 2001 by the Maharashtra police, Manish had served time in Nashik jail, where he befriended several criminals. After release, he hatched the heist plan with two accomplices from Punjab. On September 4, 2007, he was arrested in a hideout in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu.

Aftermath and final twist

The CCB eventually arrested 17 people in connection with the heist, naming Manish Shetty as the prime accused. A chargesheet was filed, but all the accused were released on bail. Shetty was freed in 2015 and reportedly reconnected with the underworld. His name surfaced in subsequent coastal crimes.

On October 15, 2020, Manish Shetty, 41, was shot dead outside Duet Bar and Restaurant—a victim of underworld rivalry.

Jayanth, who served in various ranks, is a recipient of the President’s medal, the chief minister’s gold medal, and the UN peacekeeping gold medal. In 2015 he retired as a superintendent of police and is living in Mangaluru.