Six in jewellery heist arrested

PUNE: Six armed dacoits robbed a jewellery shop near Laxmi road on Monday afternoon but failed to make a clean getaway. Two of them were nabbed by the public as they tried to escape and four others were arrested in Dhanori within two hours of the incident. Jewellery worth Rs 27 lakh was recovered from one of the suspects.
Owner Mahendra Solanki of Mahendra Jewellers, his brother Ramesh and jewellery-maker Umesh Dyandev Sathe were in the shop, situated at Umbrya Ganapati Chowk, at the time of the incident.On Mondays, the shops in the area are closed but the Solankis had some work to finish so had opened shop.
According to Sathe, he was speaking with the brothers when one person entered the shop and asked to see some ornaments. Soon after, five others entered, brandishing guns. "One of them pulled down the shutter, while the others started thrashing us," said Sathe. "They tied me up and when the Solankis tried to raise the alarm, attacked them with a stapler, which was lying on the counter, and the butts of their guns."
Sathe said that the men put most of the jewellery kept on display in a bag before fleeing the shop.
When they had left, the Solankis freed Sathe, opened the shutter of the shop and shouted for help. Somebody called the police and the Solanki brothers, who had received head injuries, were taken to a nearby hospital, where they are stated to be out of danger.
Meanwhile, in their rush to get away, the suspects pushed aside passerby Umesh Ghodke, who fell to the ground. Furious at this he tried to catch the person who had pushed him.
"When I went near him, I saw his clothes were soaked in blood. I also heard screaming from the nearby jewellery shop. He was trying to flee with his accomplice on a motorcycle. However, the two-wheeler skidded and the suspects started running. With the help of other passersby I managed to catch him," Ghodke told TOI.
The other suspect tried to get away via the bylanes of Narayan Peth. Cell phone shop owner Aditya Wakhare spotted him and started chasing him on his two-wheeler. The suspect attempted to intimidate Wakhare by brandishing his gun. "While chasing him I tried to call the police control room but the number was constantly busy," Wakhare said. Three more people joined in the chase along with a policeman and the man was finally caught near Vijay theatre.
Police constable Mahesh Nimbalkar of the Deccan Gymkhana police station, who helped nab the suspect, told TOI. "I recovered a country-made revolver from his possession. When I checked the bag that he was carrying, I found that the bag was full of gold ornaments. I handed him over to the Vishrambaug police."
The men arrested have been identified as Ajaysingh Gangadharsingh (19), Sanjay Sahu (21), Raju Bilaku Yadav (18), Birasa Veer Karamali (19), Mantukumar Jagadambakumar (28) and Annu Mangal Munda (21), all from Chhattisgarh.
Commissioner of police Satya Pal Singh has announced a reward for those who helped the
police nab the suspects.