Cops: owner’s cousin robbed jewellery shop for insurance

According to the police,Balu has confessed to his crime and told them that he had committed the alleged robbery in order to get the insurance money. Balu and Kishan own the shop in partnership and the two partners were supposed to get Rs 20 lakh as insurance money if the theft was proved,the police claimed. The police,however,added that Kishan had no idea about his partner’s “conspiracy”.

The theft was reported on Friday morning when Kishan reached the showroom located in Pooja Enclave at Charkop. He found some locks on two shutters of his shop missing while others were intact. When he went inside the shop he discovered jewellery weighing around 1,300 grams and worth about Rs 15 lakh was missing,the police said.

Additional Commissioner of Police (North Region) Ramrao Pawar said,“When our team reached the spot,its attention was first drawn towards Balu who was crying dramatically,which seemed a bit overdone. Secondly,there was no trace of any attempt to break open the intact locks. The team found nothing in the shop that indicated a house break-in theft. Though the accused tried his level best to make it appear like one,the police did not find anything which suggested a break-in.”

The police also discovered that the safe could not be broken into and had to be opened with the help of keys – this again alerted the investigators,the police said. Even more importantly,the watchman there had seen Balu around the shop on Thursday even though it was closed.

However,what made the police suspect an inside’s involvement was the fact that the insurance agents had reached the jewellery shop 45 minutes before the police,they said. After putting together the circumstantial evidence and the watchman’s statement,the police zeroed in on Balu.

“Balu had left a bag containing jewellery at his sister’s residence in Goregaon without informing her about the contents. The police have recovered the bag and Singh has been remanded to police custody till April 15,” said Pawar.