Three arrested after stealing gold worth Rs 13.39 crore from Borivali
The three had hid the gold in a jungle in Gujarat
3 min read
Police are further investigating the matter and enquiring about the remaining missing gold, another officer said.
Mumbai police have arrested a 19-year-old employee of a jewellery company for allegedly stealing his employer’s gold jewellery worth Rs 13 crore. Police claimed to have nabbed the accused within three days from Gujarat and recovered Rs 11 crore of the stolen gold and also arrested the youngster’s father and an associate.
The Maharashtra Housing Board Police (MHB) acted on the complaint filed by Gujarat-based J P Export Gold and Diamond Jewellery, which has a gold jewellery-selling business in Gujarat and South India.
As per the company’s regular business operation, its sales representative Ajay Ghagda, 27, and his assistant Jignesh Kuchhadiya, 19, sell jewellery to the company’s customers.
The complainant company had given the two employees gold ornaments in bulk for sale. The two, after selling jewellery in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, had reached the company’s flat in the Borivali area on June 22.
From this flat, Kuchhadiya allegedly stole two bags with gold ornaments and bars worth Rs 13.34 crore.
Ghagda reported the theft by Kuchhadiya to his employer and on their instructions, filed an FIR with the MHB police station.
DCP zone-11 Anand Bhoite formed multiple teams to trace the accused. Since the accused employee was of Gujarat origin, police started probing and scanning CCTV of all railway stations and toll booths in Mumbai from where a person can escape to Gujarat.
By scanning the CCTV footage of various toll booths of roads leading to Gujarat, the police managed to find that the accused Kuchhadiya had escaped in a Thar car along with his father Nathabhai Kuchadiya and a friend, Yash Odedara. Their vehicle was spotted moving towards Junagadh, a police officer said.
After finding the accused’s location, a police team started chasing them, and after a successful chase, they first managed to arrest Odedara. After his interrogation, the police subsequently arrested Kuchhadiya.
Their interrogation revealed that Kuchhadiya’s father, Nathabhai, 50, was the mastermind of the heist, which was planned meticulously by the trio. Police also found that Nathabhai has several criminal cases against him, the police stated.
Later, police launched a hunt for Nathabhai and finally arrested him from a farm field where he was hiding. He later led cops to a jungle in Manikwada where he had hidden the stolen gold.
Police were able to recover gold and diamond jewellery worth Rs 11.01 crore of the 13.34 crore worth.
All three accused were subsequently arrested, and after securing their transit remand, the police brought them to Mumbai and secured their custody up to June 30 from a Mumbai court, the police said.
Police are further investigating the matter and enquiring about the remaining missing gold, another officer said.
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