New Delhi, May 15 (IANS) The East District Police of Delhi have solved a high-profile armed robbery case involving a goldsmith and arrested five accused, including two main robbers and three accomplices, officials said on Friday.

Police recovered 21 robbed gold chains weighing around 250 gm and cash amounting to Rs 2.31 lakh from the accused.

Investigators said nearly 90 per cent of the robbed property has been recovered.

According to the police, the robbery took place on May 3 at around 10:30 p.m. when Sukumar Dhara, a goldsmith who has been running his business in Mandawali for the past 22 years, was returning home after closing his shop. Two-armed assailants intercepted him and robbed his scooty containing 23 gold chains, gold pieces, Rs 3 lakh cash and his mobile phone.

Following the incident, an FIR under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) was registered at the Preet Vihar Police Station.

Considering the seriousness of the case, joint teams of Special Staff East District and Preet Vihar Police Station were formed under the supervision of senior officers.

Police said the exact spot of the crime did not have CCTV coverage, forcing investigators to analyse more than 600 CCTV cameras installed across multiple routes over a period of 10 days.

The accused were tracked from the crime site through Vikas Marg, Delhi-Dehradun Expressway, Signature Bridge, Bhajanpura and Ghonda before police finally traced them to their hideout in Jafrabad area of North east Delhi.

During the investigation, police found that the accused had made elaborate attempts to evade surveillance. They abandoned the robbed scooty, changed clothes three times, switched multiple modes of transport, and even threw the robbed mobile phone into a moving vehicle to create misleading technical leads.

Despite these efforts, police teams reconstructed the entire escape trail using CCTV footage, technical evidence, and local intelligence inputs.

The accused have been identified as Vijay Kumar (30), a resident of Jagjeet Nagar and a cab driver with involvement in 19 previous criminal cases; Sunil (35), a resident of Mandawali and customer care executive; Arjun (26), a cab driver from Ghonda; Anand (21), a store operator from Mandawali; and Harish (42), a property dealer from Mandawali.

Police said that Vijay Kumar and Sunil acted as the main robbers, while Arjun and Anand conducted reconnaissance for the crime and Harish worked as an informer.

Apart from the robbed gold chains and cash, police also recovered the looted jewellery bag, fluorescent jacket, clothes worn during the offence, helmet and pitthu bag used in the robbery.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (East), Rajeev Kumar, said the case was solved through coordinated field operations, technical surveillance, and continuous analysis of CCTV footage.

Further investigation is underway.

–IANS

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