Gold theft busted in Ambajogai; two held, DVR recovered from lake

The local crime branch in Beed district has cracked a burglary in which a gang broke into a trader's locked house in Ambajogai town and made off with gold and silver jewellery and cash. The theft saw 53 tolas of gold, nearly two kilograms of silver and cash worth five and a half lakh rupees go missing. Police have arrested two accused in the case and recovered 27 tolas of gold and 858 grams of silver from them. A third member of the gang is still at large.

The most striking part of the case was that after the theft, the accused threw the DVR containing CCTV footage of the scene into a lake to destroy the evidence. But police retrieved the very same DVR from the lake, which gave the investigation the right direction.

The burglary took place at the locked house of Ambajogai trader Sarda on September 20. Once the missing jewellery and cash were noticed, police launched an investigation. The local crime branch team scrutinised footage from more than 50 CCTV cameras in the area and spotted three suspects moving around on a two-wheeler. Based on these technical leads, police laid a trap in the Parli area and detained Amar Kakasaheb Thorat and Jagjitsingh Achalsingh Dudhani. During questioning, it emerged that the three had sat by the lake after the theft and divided the jewellery among themselves.

After the theft, the accused had tried to destroy evidence by throwing the gloves, jacket, clothes and the CCTV DVR they had used into the lake. But police carried out a search operation in the lake and recovered the DVR, which proved crucial to the investigation that followed. According to police, accused Amar Thorat used to drive an auto-rickshaw and had earlier scouted the trader's house. He then brought in accomplices and hatched the plan to carry out the theft. Preliminary investigation found that the crime was driven by the family's financial difficulties.

The third accused in the case, Mangalsingh Bawri, remains at large, and separate police teams have been deployed to trace him. The stolen cash of about five and a half lakh rupees has still not been recovered. Police said the arrested accused Jagjitsingh Dudhani already has more than ten serious cases against him, including dacoity, theft and housebreaking, and that he had also been wanted in some theft cases in Parbhani and Latur districts. Beed Superintendent of Police Navneet Kawat said action would be taken against the gang under MCOCA, externment and other applicable laws. Further investigation is on.