Representative image
Davanagere: Police, on Tuesday, nabbed seven persons including two police sub inspectors on charges of robbing a jeweller of gold ornaments worth Rs 7.5 lakh.
According to SP Uma Prashanth, police sub-inspector Malappa Chippalakatti, who was transferred from Hansabavi police station in Haveri district, and Praveen Kumar, who was transferred from Ranebennur traffic police station, and gold shop owners Satish Revankar, Nagaraj Revankar, Dundeppa, Nagesh and Dilyappa were arrested. The transferred police were yet to report at the new places.
Over 78 grams of gold ornaments, two air guns used in the crime and 3 cars were seized from the arrested. The accused robbed Vishwanath Arkasali, a jeweller from Karwar, in the early hours of Monday.
Vishwanath, who had collected gold bars and old rings from jewellers in Mandipete and Halepete of Davangere, had reached the KSRTC bus terminal at midnight on November 23. When he boarded a bus bound for Hubballi to return to Karwar, the police sub inspectors detained him and took him to the KTJ Nagar police station and threatened him.
Speaking to DH, SP Uma Prashanth said the accused, who introduced themselves as the police of the KTJ Nagar police station in the name of the IG Squad, said that they were taking a suspicious person for questioning. They had threatened him by saying that he was smuggling gold jewellery to many places including Goa and Dubai.
The police inspectors, who took him to a deserted area in a private car, showed him an air gun and threatened him further. They had tortured him to hand over gold jewellery so that they would not file a case. They had snatched 78 grams of gold ornaments and a gold bar. They had warned him not to inform anyone about this. Later, they dropped him at the bus terminal and left the place.
Worried, Vishwanath interacted this with his family members. Later, he rushed to the police station on Monday night and filed a case. Investigation revealed that the owner of the gold shop had informed the PSIs about Vishwanath.