Second-time offender robs uncrowded jewellery shop

A gang of three from Rajasthan has been arrested for last week’s violent robbery at a jewellery store in North Bengaluru. One of the suspects was arrested for a similar offence four years ago. Police cracked the case after checking the fingerprint records of previous offenders.

Goparam alias Gopal, 28, of KP Agrahara, Jitendar Maali, 31, and Veer Ram alias Mangilal, 32, both residents of A Narayanapura, allegedly robbed Vinod Bankers and Jewellers located on MES Road in Jalahalli on September 20.

In 2016, Goparam was arrested for a burglary at a jewellery store in Bagalur. He, however, got bail a few months later and went to his hometown in Rajasthan. He returned to Bengaluru in 2017 and started working as a delivery boy for an online restaurant aggregator.

While delivering food in areas around MES Road, Goparam noticed that Vinod Bankers and Jewellers never had more than two people at any given point in time. When he went to deliver food one morning a month ago, he saw the owner, Rahul Sanjay Bhai Shah, himself opening and cleaning the store.

Goparam smelled an opportunity and roped in fellow delivery boys Jitendar and Veer to rob the store. The gang did a trial before the actual robbery. The men went to the jewellery store on August 20 and placed an order for making a 2.5-gram gold chain by paying Rs 1,000 as advance.

Exactly a month later, the men went to the shop again, armed with a knife and an airgun. At that time, only Shah and one of his relatives were present in the store.

The gang first took delivery of the chain and asked Rahul to show some rings. As Rahul started looking into the safety locker for the rings, the gang pounced on him and tied him up before overpowering his relative. It then stole the jewellery and the cash.

Shah filed a police complaint, stating that robbers had taken away around 3.4 kg gold worth Rs 1.5 crore, 715 grams of silver articles and Rs 3.96 lakh in cash.

Fingerprints give it away

As per the procedure, police looked for fingerprints and CCTV footage. They then checked the fingerprint records of old suspects in robbery cases. To their surprise, some fingerprints from the store matched those from the record. A man in the CCTV footage greatly resembled Goparam.

Over the next few days, police tracked down Goparam and others. Jalahalli police said they had so far recovered 1.75 kg of gold jewellery worth Rs 90 lakh, Rs 3.5 lakh in cash and the airgun from the gang.