Constable caught after fake raid on jeweller; colleague on run

A police constable has been arrested while his colleague is on the run for conducting a fake raid on an unauthorised jewellery shop and robbing 240 grams of gold.

A senior police officer said Ashok and Choude Gowda, both posted at the Kadugodi police station, had raided a jewellery shop in Halasuru Gate area, central Bengaluru, on November 11 with the help of a few accomplices. The raid was plotted by Jeetu Adak and his son Sooraj, who hail from West Bengal and run another jewellery shop in the same building and own it. They had rented a part of the building to Karthik, the owner of the shop that was raided.

Jealous of Karthik's booming business, Adak and Sooraj decided to spoil it as well as extract their pound of flesh. That Karthik didn't have a trade licence made their job easier, and they decided to get the shop robbed. They hoped Karthik wouldn't go to the police as his business wasn't authorised.

Adak approached his friend, Nadeem Pasha, locally known as a fixer.

Pasha came on board and took help from constables Ashok and Gowda. He asked them to conduct a fake raid on Karthik's shop and seize gold, and offered them a share in the booty. The policemen agreed.

On November 11, Nadeem, the constables and a few others went to Karthik's shop, and introduced themselves as policemen. They demanded to see the business papers. When Karthik failed to produce them, they took away 240 grams of solid gold and fled the spot.

After initial hesitation, Karthik filed a police complaint three days later and was shocked to learn that the raid was fake.

Investigating his complaint, Halasuru Gate police checked the CCTV footage of the area and identified a car used by the raiding party. With the help of the registration number, the police learnt that the car had been sold to six people, the last being one Mohammed Sheikh, a resident of Annasandrapalya.

Sheikh led the police to seven people, including constable Ashok. Police have so far arrested eight people, including Ashok, while Gowda remains elusive. The gang had sold the gold for Rs 9 lakh, and each member got Rs 1 lakh, the officer said.