6 held for 41L angadia robberies

Surat: In two separate operations, Surat crime branch and Varachha police arrested six persons for two angadia robberies. Gold and diamonds worth Rs 41.58 lakh, in the possession of the angadia firm, had been robbed last week on two occasions. Police are yet to arrest two accused persons who have most of the stolen valuables. Deputy commissioner of police (crime) Bhavesh Roziya stated: "In the first instance, an angadia employee was robbed of Rs 16.56 lakh on June 15 after he got off a bus near Vaishali Circle in Varachha. The accused posed as police personnel, abducted the employee and robbed him of the gold and diamond parcels. "In the second incident, on June 17, an angadia employee was carrying gold and diamond parcels worth Rs 25.02 lakh. Three persons conspired to steal the parcels while he was on a bus and left the city. As both robberies involved the same angadia firm, R Mahindrakumar and Co, and the same Shivay Travels bus, our teams found a link between the two cases. Based on human and technical surveillance, we apprehended Shailesh Rajpurohit and Shravan Rajput from Rajasthan and Jogsinh Rajput from Ahmedabad. We seized valuables worth Rs 4.02 lakh from them," Roziya said. Varachha police arrested two persons, Akash Singh and Bharat Rajpurohit, from Jalore district of Rajasthan. Police also detained one Hitesh Rajpurohit, who supplied information to the accused in both cases. Police are yet to arrest two individuals who were in the car during the robbery. "Shailesh has a criminal history, as he was previously booked by Vijaywada police for a 300g gold theft. Hitesh contacted him and tipped him off about the angadia workers carrying valuables. Shailesh summoned all the accused to Vijaywada and held a meeting last month. At the meeting, they decided to rob the angadia employee. The accused arrived in Surat at the beginning of this month and began scouting angadia employees. They rented a car through an app and used it in the robbery," said an official. Shravan was inside the bus to provide the live location to Shailesh, who was waiting to rob the employee on June 15. During the investigation, Surat police found eight persons to be involved, of whom six have been arrested, while two are at large. Police are not ruling out the involvement of more persons.