Umedsingh Solanki, who allegedly burgled a jewellery store in Ghatkopar in October last year, managed to evade apprehension successfully for two months but landed in police net while committing a good deed. Crime branch officials said it was a transfer of money from his account to his mother’s that tipped them off about Solanki’s whereabouts, leading to his arrest on Tuesday. Solanki (28), who started working as a salesman with the Maniratna Jewellers, Ghatkopar, last October, allegedly made a duplicate key of the store and robbed it of jewellery worth Rs 1.13 crore, after which he fled the city with his wife. According to Crime Branch officials, they were keeping a watch on his bank account, as well as accounts of his family members, and this provided the first breakthrough in the case. “Earlier this month, Rs 50,000 was transferred to the account of Solanki’s mother, who stayed alone in Mumbai, from an account in Karnataka. We went to the bank and made inquiries there, and thus got leads about his possible location. Working for several days in Karnataka, we traced him to Hiriyur and picked him up,” said a Crime Branch officer, adding, “Solanki did not have any plans to return to Mumbai. He went to Karnataka with the intention of settling there for good.” The Crime Branch has so far managed to recover 25 per cent of the stolen jewellery from Solanki and suspect that he had already spent most, if not all, of the remaining booty. The police had recovered an electric machine from him, which he allegedly used to melt the jewellery into lumps of gold, which he would sell to a contact in Karnataka, the police said. “We have made inquiries with waiters and other employees of several bars in Karnataka, and they have all told us that Solanki was a regular customer in the bars, spending as much as Rs 45,000 to Rs 50,000 every night. We suspect that he has already splurged most of the stolen jewellery,” the officer said. Solanki was arrested for a similar crime by the Kurla police in 2013, apart from which he also has cases of theft registered against him with the Panvel and the Sanpada police, as well as a rape case registered with the NRI police station in Navi Mumbai against him. He was released on bail in the Kurla case two months before he started working at the Maniratna Jewellers, said officers. gautam.mengle@expressindia.com
