Agra jewellers down shutters to protest silver heist

Jewellers and bullion merchants in Agra went on an indefinite strike Tuesday downing shutters to protest police failure to nab armed bandits who looted silver worth Rs.3.5 crore in Mathura district Monday.

The bandits looted the silver from a courier company van which was carrying 36 cartons of the precious metal from Agra to Delhi. The van was later found abandoned in Aligarh district with the driver and security guard tied with ropes and dumped under the seats. The bandits vanished in a Bolero vehicle.

The silver reportedly belonged to five silver dealers and jewellers of Agra. Silver merchants in Agra, under the banner of "Agra Sarrafa Committee", expressed their anger and demanded firm action against the bandits. They said the Mathura police had so far not even registered an FIR. A delegation from Agra will meet the Mathura SSP Prem Gautam later Tuesday.

Gautam on Monday had told IANS: "We need to see all the papers and the victims have to come and complain." He also said that it would be examined if the courier company had a mandate in its charter to book and deliver silver.

A knowledgeable source said that normally "courier companies are not allowed to book currency packets or valuables".  However, bullion merchants in Agra said that consignments had been booked for delivery to Chennai, Kolkata and Mumbai from Delhi.

The jewellers claimed that they had a formal contract with the Blue Dart courier company which owned the van transporting the silver. "The consignments are insured and all the papers are in order," a jeweller said.

The courier company officials were not willing to talk about what happened and their future course of action.  The bullion markets in Phullatti Bazar, Chaubeyji Ka Phatak, Kinari Bazar, Kashmiri Bazar and Namak Ki Mandi remained closed Tuesday.  The Sarrafa committee secretary Dhan Kumar said the police in Aligarh and Mathura had not responded. He warned that if no concrete action followed in the next 24 hours, they would intensify their stir.