Pune: The Pimpri Chinchwad crime branch has arrested five suspects within a week of the theft of silver and imitation jewellery worth Rs 77.22 lakh from a jewellery showroom at Chakan on April 23. A crime branch team led by inspector Santosh Kasbe examined CCTV footage covering a 550 km route from Chakan to Gujarat to nab the suspects. The police recovered stolen jewellery worth Rs 27 lakh and a car used by the accused to escape from the crime scene.
The arrested individuals are from Gujarat and Rajasthan. Authorities are searching for their accomplices, who remain at large with the rest of the stolen jewellery, an officer from the crime branch stated.
In the early hours of April 23, unknown men entered a jewellery shop at Chakan by cutting the locks with a gas cutter and made off with imitation and silver jewellery worth Rs 77.20 lakh. The Pimpri Chinchwad crime branch reviewed CCTV footage and noticed a suspicious car driving away towards Nashik from the crime scene. "Our team followed the car's route through CCTV footage. We checked the footage on the 550 km stretch till Ahmedabad in Gujarat and made the arrests," an officer from the crime branch said.
He identified the arrested suspects as Himmatkumar Salvi, 37, from Ahmedabad, and Mukesh Salvi, 24, Radheshyam Salvi, 22, and Pukhraj Lohar, 21, all from Bhilwara in Rajasthan. "During questioning, the accused admitted to having stolen the jewellery from the Chakan shop with the help of two more accomplices," he added.
The officer further revealed that the accused disclosed the name of an employee in the jewellery shop who had provided them with a tip about the booty and also gave them a key to the shutter at the back side of the shop. The gang opened the shutter and cut the locks using a gas cutter. "We have recovered some of the stolen jewellery from the gang. We have launched a search for their two accomplices, who are from Rajasthan," the officer said.
