Mumbai:
TV viewing can be entertaining, and educative. Ghatkopar cops suspect jeweller Kanak Champalal Shah picked up pointers from TV shows to stage a robbery at his store and claim insurance worth Rs 1.5 crore. As per the jeweller's statement, three robbers had walked into the RG Jewellers store at MG road, Kapol Wadi and had robbed it of 2 kg of gold, worth about Rs 56 lakh.
MiD DAY had reported the incident on May 4 ('Armed robbers loot jewellery outlet'). "As we started investigating we found that there were several things amiss in what Shah had narrated, since there was more gold in the shop that was left untouched," said a Ghatkopar police officer. Additional commissioner of police (Eastern region) Qaiser Khalid said, "We are investigating the case considering all aspects."
1) Shah told the police that the robbers had consented to his request to not take some of the gold, since it belonged to his customers. "Why will a robber listen to Shah if he has come to loot the jeweller? The theory seems fake," said a police officer.
2) Shah told cops the CCTV of his shop was not working at the time of the incident. "But when we questioned the person who repairs CCTVs in the area, he told us he had come to repair the system at RG Jewellers, but was asked by Shah to return after 15 days. If there was footage available, our job would have become easier," said the police officer.
3) Shah has been unable to give a proper description of the accused. "He has been telling us that the accused visited his shop thrice - they did a recce on the first two occasions and committed the robbery on the final instance. If Shah saw them thrice, he should be able to describe at least one," said the officer.
4) The jeweller told cops the accused fled via trains from Ghatkopar, as after running out of his shop they ran towards the station. "Why would robbers who are looting a shop flee towards the station and that too at 11 am? And why did the jeweller not shout? Though we have recovered CCTV footage, that has hardly given us anything," the officer said.
5) Shah called his neighbouring shopkeeper on the phone to tell him that a robbery had taken place at his store. "If he had shouted out, workers nearby could have easily caught the accused," added the officer.
6) Cops are also amazed at the fact that the miscreants left Shah untouched, when they could have instead tied him up so he couldn't raise a hue and cry.
7) The employee working with Shah rarely ventures out of the shop, but that day the jeweller insisted he accompanied another gold designer. The robbery took place in the same period.
8) Shah's income is about Rs 30 lakh a year. But, he's been insisting that he was robbed of Rs 56 lakh. He has an insurance of Rs 1.5 crore.
9) The office of the crime branch unit is just four buildings away from RG Jewellers. If he had cried out for help, cops would have helped him faster.
10) When photos of suspects where shown to Shah from police records, he was unable to pick out anyone.