2 weeks Ago
1 2 Pune: The robbery by three men at a jewellery shop in Dhayari on April 15 was staged by the owner to divert the attention of moneylenders whom he owed Rs20 lakh, revealed investigations of the city crime branch. Deputy commissioner of police (crime) Nikhil Pingale told TOI, "We came to the conclusion that the shopowner was the mastermind during questioning of the three suspects arrested from Bhosari." DCP (zone III) Sambhaji Kadam said, "The shopowner is under a debt of Rs20 lakh and plotted the robbery to divert the attention of moneylenders.
He contacted the trio in the afternoon on April 15 and told them to execute the plot. He later called the police and claimed that a trio had used a toy gun and robbed his store." The jewellery shopowner had wanted to gain sympathy and the police later recovered a broken toy gun from his shop, Kadam added.
A case of robbery was registered with the Nanded City police late in the night regarding three armed men beating the jewellery shopowner and robbing ornaments worth Rs20 lakh. "The third person arrested in the case is the shopowner's cousin," Kadam said. In the CCTV footage recovered, the cousin can be seen thrashing the shopowner with his hands and the toy gun.
"The two other suspects were not aware whether the robbery was real or staged. Later, they tried to sell the stolen jewellery which turned out to be fake," said senior inspector Atul Bhos of Nanded City police. Sinhagad Road police said they would prepare a summary report of the case and submit it in court for further legal action against the people involved.
The trio had used a stolen motorcycle to execute the crime and abandoned it on Sinhagad Road near Pu La Deshpande Garden..
