Following the arrests last month of four accused who were allegedly involved in a unique vault robbery at the Bank of Indias Opera House branch in April last year,the Mumbai Police Crime Branch has recovered more cash and valuables,including diamonds worth Rs 2.5 crore. The police have also zeroed in on two bank accounts held by the kingpin of the racket. The Crime Branch had started probing the case after the D B Marg police received a complaint from a customer of the bank stating that 400 carats of diamonds worth Rs 1.65 crore had been stolen from his locker. The police eventually recovered diamonds worth Rs 4.4 crore after they identified the culprits. Further investigations have now led to the seizure of another lot of diamonds worth Rs 2.5 crore from the accused,which had been stashed in bank lockers and other places they led us to. In addition,we have also frozen two savings bank accounts belonging to Ajay Mehta. There is an HDFC bank account with Rs 83 lakh,and an account in the same Bank of India Opera House branch that was targeted,which has Rs 21 lakh, said a Crime Branch officer,who did not wish to be named. Besides,we have also identified a fixed deposit of Rs 30 lakh held by Mehta in the Opera House branch. Ornaments worth Rs 35 lakh and cash amounting to Rs 30 lakh have also been seized. In addition,27 duplicate bank locker keys that had been prepared by the accused to pull of the heist have also been recovered,and these will serve as additional evidence against them, said the officer. According to the Crime Branch,diamond traders with lockers in the branch that were cleared out by the accused will have to produce valid jangar documents legitimate receipts of ownership of the diamonds with specifics of their cut,colour,carat and clarity. Mehta (49),a diamond trader and broker from Goregaon (East) was allegedly the kingpin of the racket. The others arrested are Nirmal Nagar resident Shamsuddin Azmi (47),master locksmith Javed Hashmi (47) and Chandrasen Berde (49) from Bhayender (East). Investigations had revealed that the accused had a unique modus operandi that exposed loopholes in bank vaults security. According to the police,two of the accused obtained scratches and indentations on keys by turning them into different lockers. They would then furnish the keys to the master locksmith Hashmi,who duplicated the customer and custodian keys of several lockers over a period of three years.
