How the Mumbai bank thieves almost escaped detection
Ajay Mehta and three others were arrested by the crime branch for breaking into eight lockers at Bank of India’s Opera House branch and stealing diamonds between February 2007 and April 2010.
The four people recently arrested in a Rs4 crore diamond heist case could have escaped detection if their attempt to cover up their tracks had succeeded.
Ajay Mehta and three others were arrested by the crime branch for breaking into eight lockers at Bank of India’s Opera House branch and stealing diamonds between February 2007 and April 2010.
Sources in the crime branch revealed that Mehta realised on one of his trips to the bank that a complaint of theft had been lodged by Mehul Kumar Joshi, the owner of one of the lockers.
Mehta felt that if a diamond stolen from Joshi’s locker was replaced, the police and bank officials would feel that he had made a mistake in counting the diamonds or had deliberately registered a false complaint.
“But when Mehta went to place the diamonds back, he realised that vigilance near the lockers had been increased, and so he aborted the plan,” said a source.