Davangere: The Davangere police on Tuesday arrested two police sub-inspectors (PSIs) and five others on charges of robbing a jeweller (artisan) of gold ornaments worth Rs 7.5 lakh.
According to Superintendent of Police Uma Prashanth, police sub inspectors Malappa Chippalakatti and Praveen Kumar, jewellery shop owners Satish Revankar, Nagaraj Revankar, Dundeppa, Nagesh and Dilyappa were arrested and 78 grams of gold ornaments, two air guns and three cars were seized from them.
Mallappa Chippalakatti was recently transferred from Hamsabhavi police station in Haveri district to Sagar police station in Shivamogga district, while Praveen Kumar was transferred from Ranebennur traffic police station to the wireless wing of IG office in Davangere. Both the PSIs had not reported to their new postings.
The accused robbed Vishwanath Arkasali, a jeweller from Karwar, in the early hours of Monday. After collecting gold bars and old rings from jewellers in Mandipete and Halepete of Davangere, Vishwanath reached the KSRTC bus terminal at 12.30 am on November 23 to return to Karwar. The PSIs detained him from a Hubballi-bound bus and took him to the KTJ Nagar police station and threatened him.
Speaking to DH, the SP said the accused SIs introduced themselves as the officials of IG squad at the KTJ Nagar police station and said that they were taking a suspicious person for questioning.
They threatened Vishwanath by saying that he was smuggling gold jewellery to many places, including Goa and Dubai. The police inspectors took Vishwanath to a deserted area in a private car, brandished an air gun and threatened him to hand over gold jewellery, so that they would not file a case. They snatched 78 grams of gold ornaments and a gold bar and warned him not to inform anyone about this.
Later, they dropped him at the bus stand.
Vishwanath rushed to the KTJ Nagar police station and filed a case. Investigation revealed that the owner of a gold shop had informed the PSIs about Vishwanath. The department would initiate disciplinary action against the PSIs and a report has been submitted to the higher officials, the SP said.