Pune: Within 12 hours of a robbery in which a gang of armed robbers looted cash and 800 gm gold ornaments worth Rs 24.5 lakh from a jeweller’s shop in Raviwar Peth, sleuths from Pune Police Crime Branch nabbed six of them and recovered booty worth Rs 20 lakh including 650 gm stolen ornaments.
The robbery took place at 3 pm on Wednesday, at the shop of Manoj Jain, located in Nandan Terrace building in Raviwar Peth.
Four of the accused persons, who hailed from Nepal, were fleeing to their native country when they were caught at Vapi railway station from a train. Two persons are absconding.
Commissioner of Police Rashmi Shukla and Crime Branch chief Pradip Deshpande directed the units to solve the case as soon as possible.
Teams from Crime Branch Units I, II, Anti-Dacoity Cell and Anti-Extortion Cell were formed under guidance of ACP Sameer Shaikh. The sniffer dogs were roped in and CCTV footage was analysed.
DCP (Crime) Pankaj Dahane said, “Policeman Ramdas Gonte identified the robbers from the footages. Soon we were at their homes but they fled the city.”
After getting information that they had fled to Mumbai, ACP Shaikh, Inspector Rajendra Kadam, PSI Harshal Kadam and other policemen followed on their trail. They received information that one accused Manish Swar’s wife and brother were going to Mumbai in a SUV. Inspector Satish Nikam from Unit II contacted Sanpada police station under Navi Mumbai police. “The Sanpada police detained them and our team learnt the four robbers were fleeing in Mumbai-Dehradun Express,”
Nikam added.
ACP Shaikh alerted the Government Railway Police who caught them at Vapi station in Gujarat.
The arrested were identified as Manish Govind Swar (25), Prakash Karan Khadka (27), both residents of Nana Peth, Devendra Bahadur Kunwar (27) of Kondhwa and Manoj Mangal Bagoti (21) who lived in Mumbai. “They told us Gokul Oad (20) of Ganj Peth gave information about the potential targets. They distributed the booty at the Chinese food stall of Hansraj Lale Kami (23) of Kondhwa,” ACP Shaikh added.
A team led by Inspector Nitin Bhosale Patil and PSI Dinesh Kadam from Unit I nabbed the duo in Pune. “All the accused worked at jewellery shops and food stalls,” Inspector Bhosale Patil said.
Now the police are on the lookout for two absconding accused identified as Bharat Bika and Gokul Khadka, both from Nepal.
