Inter-state gang of thieves busted, 2 held for stealing jewels

City police has busted an inter-state theft gang with the arrest of a businessman and a share trader who allegedly stole jewellery and other valuables from shops in major cities and utilised the money for betting on the second season of the IPL.

Naren Sharma(43), a businessman from Pune and Mukesh Ramayya (28) of Mumbai were nabbed when they arrived at Dadar in central Mumbai on Wednesday night. They were produced before a local court on Thursday which remanded them to police custody till May 4.

The duo stole jewellery in Bangalore, Hyderabad and Mumbai, Joint Police commissioner Rakesh Maria said.

The accused committed their previous crime in suburban Bandra when they disappeared with Rs 80 lakh jewellery of Ceres jewellery shop on April 11.

"Sharma, prime accused, walked into Ceres shop stating that he wanted jewellery to showcase them to their potential client who checked in Royal China Hotel," Maria said.

"Subsequently, the shop manager went along with him to the hotel where Sharma, on pretext of showing the jewellery to the buyer, disappeared with the valuables," he added.

"Later, a police case was registered in Bandra police station following which crime branch officials conducted parallel inquiry and nabbed the duo," Maria said. 

"The motive was that they wanted money for cricket betting. They have also bet their money in IPL 2 matches," a crime branch officer said.

After the Bandra theft, the duo had flown to Hyderabad where they stole watches worth Rs 54 lakh from a shop in Taj Deccan Hotel, Rakesh Maria said.

"The accused had adopted similar modus operandi here as well. The manager was called to Taj Krishna hotel following which Sharma fled with the watches," he said.

"The very next day, they stole a diamond jewellery worth Rs 16 lakh from a shop in a similar style. On April 13, again they struck in Bangalore and disappeared with three watches worth Rs 20 lakh," Maria said.

While Sharma had stolen the valuables, Ramayya ensured that they get good money by selling them.

Sharma, who studied till third year B Com, had dealt in sales and purchases of electronic good and he had been to Behren in Germani and Singapore, police said adding that he was dealing in computer parts selling business when arrested.

Sharma met Ramayya nine months ago in Mumbai when he was watching cricket sitting in a hotel, police said adding that, "So far, our preliminary investigation indicate that they were involved in four offences in which they stolen valuables worth over Rs 1.50 crore."

Jewellery worth Rs 58 lakh has been recovered from Sharma and Ramayya, police said.

The duo were also cheated by some frauds who sold two copper biscuits to them stating that they were made of gold. We have recovered two copper biscuits as well, police said.

The two were told that the biscuits were made of gold. The frauds sold the biscuits for Rs 12 lakh telling them that the actual value of the biscuits was Rs 40 lakh," police said adding that further investigation is on.

During the interrogation, the accused told them that they were inspired by watching crime related news and Bollywood movies where they got different ideas to execute their plans, police said.