₹8cr jewellery, licenced revolver stolen from Barabanki villa; driver detained

Lucknow: Jewellery worth over ₹8 crore and a licenced revolver were stolen from a villa belonging to a Gorakhpur-based contractor in a posh residential colony in Barabanki, police said.

The theft took place at the house of Ajay Singh Baghel in Shalimar Paradise under the Kotwali Nagar police station limits. Baghel told police that the jewellery, accumulated over three generations, was kept in the house.

According to police, Baghel left for Gorakhpur and later Mumbai with his family on April 19. When he returned on April 30, he found that valuables worth ₹8-10 crore were missing.

An FIR was registered on Friday after Baghel submitted a detailed list of the stolen jewellery.

Investigators suspect the involvement of the family’s driver, who has been detained for questioning. Police said the driver was employed by Baghel for the past two years and frequently visited the house for cleaning work. He was also known to stay back even after the domestic help left.

CCTV footage revealed that the driver recently started arriving at the premises in a car instead of his usual motorcycle. During verification of his mobile phone, police recovered deleted data that allegedly included photographs of locker and cupboard keys.

Police also found that CCTV cameras and interior lights of the house were switched off on the night of April 27.

Baghel told investigators that his wife was bedridden for the past three months and occasionally relied on the driver in his absence, which may have given him access to information about the valuables.

Circle officer (city) Sangam Kumar is leading the investigation with the help of surveillance and SWAT teams.

Inspector Sudhir Kumar Singh said a case was registered and all angles, including the driver’s role, were being examined.
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