Mumbai:
A pizza delivery boy's quick manoeuvres on a bike, and his hefty friend's fisticuffs, saved Rs 1.7 crore worth of gems from the clutches of two bike-borne jewel thieves yesterday. Though the accused managed to scurry off after taking a few blows, the valuables - 5 kg gold and diamonds worth Rs 20 lakh - are now safe.
In the afternoon on Wednesday, Smokin' Joe's Pizza delivery boy Kailash Tambe got a call from his friend and neighbour Jitesh Shinde, 28, a resident of Abhinav Nagar, Sewri. Shinde, who works as a lift contractor, asked Tambe to accompany him to Colaba to check out a second-hand car he had his eyes on. The two got on Shinde's bike and headed downtown. Another friend, Sandeep Amre, also joined them.
"Around 3 pm, Shinde, Tambe and Amre had reached Hari Masjid at Sewri and were going towards Colaba to see a second-hand car when they heard somebody shouting for help," said Dhananjay Kulkarni, deputy commissioner of police, zone IV.
Geared for rescue
Said Shinde, "I heard somebody shouting 'chor chor' and rushed to help. I saw that four people on two bikes had snatched a bag from a person and were speeding away. The two bikes parted ways at a road diversion and zoomed off on different routes." Thinking on his feet, Shinde asked his friend Amre to get off the bike and go inform the police, while he and Tambe, who was riding, revved up to get ready for a chase.
"Tambe and I decided to follow the bike which had the bag. After a chase of around 10 minutes, we managed to intercept the Hero Honda Karizma bike at Imax Wadala (E). We slapped the two offenders and took away the bag from them. To save their skin, the duo left the bike behind and scuttled away," said Shinde.
Though the accused managed to flee, Tambe and Shinde had recovered the bag. "They, then, rode to the Wadala police station and surrendered the bag. Till the time, Shaikh Mehmood, the theft victim, had approached the RAK Marg police station and registered a case of theft," said Kulkarni.
The police said Shaikh is a courier and transfers jewellery from one place to another. Cops suspect that the accused followed him for some time before making the strike. Shaikh had taken the jewellery from a jeweller in Sewri and was supposed to deliver the ornaments to Delhi.
"Though the accused fled, we have recovered 5 kg of gold and Rs 20 lakh worth of diamonds, together amounting to a total of around Rs 1.7 crore, due to the efforts of the two boys. We will nominate them for a reward, and will request Mumbai Police Commissioner Dr Satypal Singh to felicitate them for their extraordinary feat," said Kulkarni.