Pune:
Ten days after Lakhansingh Rajputsingh Dudhani (20) was arrested by the Wanawadi police for allegedly burgling a jewellery shop, the safe he had thrown 20-feet down in a stone quarry near Ramtekdi was recovered. The police said the chest weighing almost 700 kg was stolen from Pawar Jewellers in Sangamwadi.
It took a team of 15 policemen from the Wanawadi police station and eight hours to pump out the water from the quarry and extricate the chest containing cash, and gold and silver ornaments worth Rs 20.15 lakh.
Besides this, the police have so far recovered three cars, one Maruti car, two Boleros used in several house thefts by Dudhani and his four accomplices. DCP Sanjay Jadhav said Dudhani and his accomplices would abandon the stolen cars at the same spot from where they had lifted them to avoid suspicion.
Absconding since December"Dudhani was involved in more than 10 house thefts and seven others and was absconding since December 2010. One of his accomplices, Guddusingh alias Japansingh Dudhani, was shot dead when an armed guard opened fire at a petrol pump in Shirur from where the robbers had looted cash."
Dudhani who was arrested on August 14, after the police received a tip-off, was part of a burglary at two jewellery shops in the city. Gold and silver jewellery worth Rs 21.96 lakh was stolen from the two shops. The incidents had taken place at Sangamwadi and Kasarwadi in February. Jadhav said Dudhani was involved in 10 such housebreaking attempts and at least seven thefts registered in various police stations including Shirur, Wanawadi, Yerawada, Bhosari, Pimpri and Hadapsar.
Cash awardsCommissioner of Police Meeran Chaddha Borwankar announced an award of Rs 25,000 to the detection branch team of Wanawadi police and Rs 5,000 to Constable Pravin Rajput and ASI Balasaheb Holkar, who shared the amount.
Rs 20.15 L Worth of cash and gold and silver jewellery were recovered from the chest hidden in the quarry
17 Number of housebreakings and thefts that Dudhani was involved in according to the police