Gujarat: 6 men held for Rs 1.74 crore jewellery heist, two accused still at large

Patan: Robbers armed with sharp weapons intercepted a car, threatened three salesmen of an Ahmedabad-based jewellery firm travelling in it and made off with gold ornaments worth nearly Rs 1.74 crore in Gujarat’s Banaskantha district, said police on Wednesday.

Acting swiftly, the Patan district police nabbed six persons who were involved in the robbery within hours of the crime which took place in adjoining Banaskantha on Tuesday evening. A former employee of the jewellery firm is suspected to be involved in the heist, but he remains at large.

Cops recovered the entire booty looted by the accused after abducting three salesmen of an Ahmedabad-based jewellery firm at knife-point, said a release by the Patan police.

While six persons involved in the robbery were apprehended on Tuesday night from different parts of Patan district, two other men wanted in the case — Revabhai Rabari and Amrat Rabai — were still at large, it said.

Probe conducted so far has revealed the robbery was planned on a tip provided by Revabhai Rabari about the movement of the three gold jewellery salesmen.

Since he had worked with the company earlier as a salesman, he also knew about the secret compartments created in the car by the Ahmedabad jeweller to transport gold items. Revabhai Rabari was fired from the job two months ago, said the release.

On Tuesday, one Ashok Desai, who works as a salesman with the Ahmedabad-based jewellery-making firm, along with two colleagues came to Banaskantha in a car to deliver gold articles to different jewellers of Palanpur and Deesa towns of the district.

For extra precaution, they had hidden the parcels in specially-designed cavities underneath the car provided by the firm’s owner. When the car was on the Palanpur-Deesa highway, armed men intercepted the salesmen and forced them to drive towards an internal road, said the release.

The robbers, who were armed with sharp weapons, looted parcels containing 2.9 kg of gold jewellery worth nearly Rs 1.74 crore and fled in their own car, said the police.

Upon getting a message from the Banaskantha police that the robbers were coming towards Patan, district police cordoned off roads and started checking vehicles.

Meanwhile, the Local Crime Branch (LCB) received a tip off that the car used by the robbers was recently purchased from a car dealer by one Devraj Chaudhary of Roda village in Patan district. Based on the tip off, the LCB raided his residence during the night but did not find him there, said the release.

Later in the night, the police raided several other locations and possible hide-outs of the accused and nabbed six men, including Chaudhary, for their involvement in the heist, it added.