How cops cracked Rs 25 crore Delhi gold heist: 2 arrested, 18.5kg of ornaments recovered so far

NEW DELHI: The Chhattisgarh Police on Friday arrested two persons and recovered around 18.5 kg of gold and diamond ornaments stolen from a jewellery store in Delhi earlier this week.

A joint team of anti-crime and cyber unit and civil line police station in Bilaspur district carried out the operation while it was investigating a series of thefts in Bilaspur city, Superintendent of Police (SP) Santosh Singh said on Friday.

The arrested persons have been identified as Lokesh Srivas and Shiva Chandravanshi, he said.

Srivas was allegedly involved in seven thefts in Bilaspur, he said.



Acting on a tip-off, police raided Kawardha town in Kabirdham district and arrested Chandravanshi, one of the suspects in the Delhi jewellery store burglary. They also seized Rs 23 lakh worth of stolen jewellery.

Srivas, the other suspect, managed to escape.

The team then tracked down Srivas to a house in Smritinagar police station area of Durg district with the help of Durg police, he said.

The police recovered Rs 18.5 kg of gold and diamond jewellery and Rs 12.5 lakh cash from his possession, Singh said.



An investigation revealed that the jewellery worth crores of rupees was stolen from a store in New Delhi, he said.

A team of Delhi police has also arrived in Chhattisgarh and further investigation into the matter is underway, he added.

Previously, authorities reported the detention of two individuals in Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh, in connection with a 20-crore rupee burglary at a jewelry store in Bhogal, Delhi. Interrogation of these individuals was in progress.




According to the Delhi police, the burglary involved a minimum of three perpetrators and was one of the largest in the national capital. The criminals entered the shop, created an opening in a secure room, and made off with ornaments valued at over 20 crores rupees, along with 5 lakh rupees in cash earlier in the week.

Although Umrao Singh Jewellers in Bhogal, south Delhi, had multiple CCTV cameras, they were tampered with around midnight on Sunday, as per the police. The shop was closed by its owner at 8 pm on Sunday and was reopened at 10.30 am on Tuesday, when the incident was discovered. The shop remained closed on Monday.