NEW DELHI: In one of the biggest recoveries of stolen articles, the Delhi and Chandigarh police have in a joint operation seized gold and diamond jewellery worth over a whopping Rs.10 crore besides 1,000 mobile phones and accessories. Eight persons, including two teenaged students, have been arrested.The jewellery was robbed from a Tanishq jewellery showroom in Mani Majra, a small town in the jurisdiction of Chandigarh, in the early hours of January 12.
Those arrested have been identified as Paras Soni (26), his brother Manav Soni (24), Bhura Qureshi (28), Upender Singh (19), Anuj Kumar (21), Ajay Singh (24), Bhura Tomar (18) and Sonu Raghav (19). Four of their accomplices -- Ali Raja, Umar Daraj, Satinder and Nadeem -- are absconding.
The breakthrough
The breakthrough in the high-profile case came with the arrest of Bhura Qureshi at PVR Priya in Vasant Vihar by the South Delhi Police. During interrogation, Bhura purportedly confessed to his involvement in the case and revealed the name of gang leader Paras and other accomplices. Some of the robbed jewellery was also allegedly recovered from him.
The information was passed on to the Chandigarh Police and their team also joined the investigations. In a joint operation, the police teams arrested Paras and Manav. Five of their accomplices, Ajay, Upender, Bhura Tomar, Sonu and Anuj, all residents of Uttar Pradesh, were later arrested at their instance.
Subsequently, the police recovered over 18 kg of gold jewellery, 2.6 kg of diamond jewellery, precious gem stones, 1,000 mobile phones and Rs.2.5 lakh in cash. A Tata 407 tempo, a gas cutter along with cooking gas cylinder, house-breaking implements and four country-made pistols allegedly used in the crime were also seized.
It was purportedly revealed during interrogation that Paras, who earlier ran an artificial jewellery shop, had planned the robbery over two months ago along with his accomplices and the gang decided to target the showroom after extensive recce in Mani Majra. As per the plan, five of the accused donning police uniforms and posing as members of the Panchkula Police Special staff took the guards behind the showroom on the pretext that a body was lying there. The robbers tied the hands of the two guards and forced them to swallow some sedatives following which the duo fell unconscious.
The gang then broke open the showroom shutter and collected all the jewellery on display and decamped with the articles in less than 15 minutes.
The mobile phones, worth over Rs.1 crore, recovered from the accused were allegedly stolen from a warehouse at Kundli in neighbouring Haryana on January 3. A burglary case is registered at the Kundli police station in this regard.
Paras, a tempo operator, was arrested in connection with murder of one Shiv Kumar over a financial dispute in 2007. Manav, who earlier ran a garments business, had recently joined his elder brother as tempo operator after suffering huge losses in business.
Both Upender and Bhura Tomar are Class XI students. Ajay is a yoga teacher, while Sonu is a helper in a truck. Anuj, who has studied up to Class XII, is jobless.
Bhura Qureshi, a school dropout, had earlier been arrested in an attempt to murder case.
