Four arrested in robbery of jewellery salesman at gunpoint in Delhi

Four men were arrested days after a salesman of a jewellery shop in South Delhi's Hauz Khas area was robbed of gold and diamond ornaments worth Rs 1.17 crore at gunpoint, police said on Tuesday.

The accused, Rahul (32), Pinku (40), Rajan (30) and Ajay (44), were identified with the help of more than 150 CCTV cameras following which multiple raids were conducted in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, they said.

Among the accused, Ajay worked at a jewellery shop in Karol Bagh and passed information about movement of jewellery to his brother Rajan who further shared the information with Rahul and Pinku, who executed the robbery.

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Police said they have recovered 121 robbed jewellery items including gold and diamond in addition to the scooter used in the crime.

The 35-year-old sales head of a jewellery shop in Karol Bagh was robbed on June 10, police said.

According to the police, the victim along with his colleague took diamond and gold jewellery articles from Karol Bagh to Kalkaji to show it to various jewellery showrooms. When they were going from Kalkaji to Malviya Nagar on Outer ring road near Panchsheel Flyover, suddenly two persons on a scooter overtook them and robbed the jewellery bag at gunpoint and fled away.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (South) Chandan Chowdhary said that during the course of investigation, after analysing footage from more than 150 CCTV cameras and tracing of forward and reverse routes around 15 kilometers, the scooty used in the crime was located near Vasant Vihar Jhuggis where it was found parked on the roadside.

Inquiry revealed that the scooter was sold multiple times and the last transaction was done on the basis of fake ID. Based on technical surveillance and mobile numbers, multiple raids were conducted in Agra, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar Sharif in Nalanda district of Bihar. Both accused Rahul and Pinku who committed robbery were caught from Bihar Sharif, she said.

Upon their instance, several raids were conducted and accused Ranjan was caught from Bihar Sharif while his accomplice Ajay was nabbed from New Usmanpur in Delhi, police said.

During interrogation, it was revealed that the robbery was planned by the accused in Nalanda. Rahul got information regarding movement of jewellery articles from Karol Bagh market from Ranjan who is brother of Ajay (works in Karol Bagh jewellery market for last 20 years) and he has complete knowledge of movement of jewellery articles. He shared the information to Ranjan who further shared the information to accused Rahul and two others, the DCP said.

"According to the plan, Rahul took a room at Noida where he and Pinku stayed around 20-22 days. In this period, they also met accused Ajay and Ranjan at Karol Bagh and Noida. Both the accused purchased a scooter on a fake ID to execute the robbery. They had been following the complainant for the last 20 days," she added.

Police said efforts are being made to nab others who were involved in planning the robbery.