Five arrested for robbing gold merchant

The Thane police on Thursday arrested a gang of five for allegedly robbing a gold merchant of his valuables on September 2. The complainant, Girish Dhananjay Baikerikar, was cornered and robbed while he was on his way to deliver ornaments to a client. He then registered a complaint with the Kalwa police station following which the accused were arrested by the Thane police Crime Branch, Unit 1. The police recovered gold worth Rs 10 lakh from the arrested accused.

After Baikerikar approached the police, a police team visited the spot where he was robbed. Subsequently a source tipped the police that one Kiran Aanwekar and his gang committed the robbery. The police then traced the gang8217;s whereabouts and arrested five men identified as Aanwekar, Farukh alias Raj Hafiz Khan, Mohsin Mokim Khan, Ranjit alias Bunty Nair, Vipul Vilas Pradhan and also recovered 432 gm of gold from them.

Joint Commissioner of Police, Crime Branch, Prashant Borde said that the gang also confessed to robbing another gold merchant Prakash Revankar in July. In connection to this case, the police arrested Suresh Khandagale, Atul More alias Mowgli and Mahesh Shinde, all three hailing from Airoli. Gold weighing 149 gm and 680 milligram were recovered from them.

According to the police, Aanwekar, a native from Karnataka has four brothers, two of whom are involved in the gold business. 8220;Investigation has revealed that Aanwekar instituted two groups for carrying out both the robberies. While five of the arrested accused robbed Baikerikar near Mhape MIDC, three others robbed Revankar near Kalwa Railway Colony,8221; said Borde.