2 days ago
5 arrested in Mumbai within hours of robbing gold worth Rs 2.5 crore, police say they wanted to become rich quickly
The Mumbai police have arrested five people in connection with Thursday's daylight robbery in Nagpada, wherein two jewellery store employees were robbed of nearly three kg of gold worth Rs 2.55 crore. An officer said the case was cracked within 12 hours of the crime. All the stolen items were also recovered, crime branch officials said Friday.
The accused have been identified as Kurla residents Vinayak Dalvi and Mangesh Shinde, Shanavaz Khan, who hails from Sewree, Nagpada resident Abdul Shaikh, and Santosh Jain.
Investigation revealed that the accused youths came up with the robbery plan as they wanted to become rich quickly and settle their debts.
One of the five arrested accused had previously worked with the jeweller, the police said, adding that he knew their operations and gold transportation route, and took advantage of it to plan and execute the robbery.
According to officers, the accused robbed two employees of the gold merchant in Kalbadevi at around 9 am on Thursday near the Diana Bridge in Nagpada. They had been following the employees, who were taking gold and broken jewellery for repair to a manufacturing unit in Lower Parel. When their vehicle reached near the bridge, the accused intercepted the employees' two-wheeler.
The robbers threatened the pillion rider and snatched the bag containing gold which he held. They also snatched the two-wheeler's key to ensure that they were not chased, the police said.
A First Information Report (FIR) was filed soon. Suspecting that the robbers seemed to know the route taken by the jewellery store employees, the police checked CCTV footage from the stores on this route and got concrete leads that helped the local police and officers of the crime branch solve the robbery soon, an officer said.
The police are currently checking if the accused were previously involved in any crime.
