Gold heist at Hunsur shop; ex-employee turns burglar

Lost n found: Police recover valuables worth ` 1.7 crore

In a swift operation, Hunsur police claim to have cracked a case of gold heist at a jewellery shop recently, arresting two youth. The duo are cousins and one among them is a former worker at the shop.

Announcing this to the media here on Saturday, IGP (southern range) A S N Murthy gave the names of the accused as Narendra Kumar Kumavath and Ajay Kumar Kumavath. The articles stolen from the shop — 5.4 kg of gold valuables and 4.18 kg of silver, and Rs 4.5 lakh cash totalling Rs 1.7 crore — have been recovered.

Narendra Kumar, the prime accused, was earlier working at Krishna Bankers and Jewellers in Hunsur — owned by Anil Chowdhari. A year ago, he quit the job to start his own venture at Periyapatna. He was occasionally visiting his former employer.

On May 17 too, he visited the house of Anil, only to steal the keys of the shop. Anil had returned home by then after locking the shop. Narendra, who came home, asked for a glass of water. When Anil went inside, Narendra decamped with the key bunch. 

It was on the same night that he alone cleaned the shop off all valuables and transported the same in a luggage bag. He contacted his cousin Ajay, working at a garment shop in Chennai, and sought his help to dispose off the booty.

Anil learnt about the missing keys only when he went to fetch the key the following morning. He rushed to the shop and found that his shop had been burgled.

Teams

Acting on the information provided by Anil, Hunsur police had formed four teams. One had been to Bangalore, three others went to Chennai, Mumbai and Ajmer respectively.

The police team in Ajmer nabbed Narendra, while Ajay was apprehended in Chennai.Replying to a query, the IGP said that the CCTV cameras at the shop was not working at that time.  The IGP appealed to jewellers and pawn brokers to maintain CCTV cameras in fine condition and also take all precautionary measures that could help prevent burglaries.SP R Dileep, CPI of Hunsur Gajendra Prasad and others were present.