Fingerprint on jeweller's counter leads Nagpur police to four held in UP over Dhomane Jewellers robbery

The Nagpur Crime Branch has solved the 3 October robbery at Dhomane Jewellers on Sangam Road in the MIDC police station area. Police said four accused have been arrested from Uttar Pradesh. The most important lead in the investigation was a fingerprint found on the shop counter.

Police Commissioner Vishwas Nangare Patil said police had no clue about the accused after the incident. He said thieves and robbers have become so careful in recent years that it is hard to find their fingerprints at a crime scene, and even when one is found, it often cannot be matched. This time, police got a lead on the accused through the National Automated Fingerprint Identification System, or NAFIS. NAFIS holds fingerprint data of criminals from across the country.

The Crime Branch began investigating along with MIDC police. Police went through more than 400 CCTV footage clips but got little help. The fingerprint found on the shop counter was then matched against the NAFIS database and it matched Abhishek. He had committed crimes earlier too, but there was nobody who could identify him. Police then prepared an image using AI.

Police reached Ghaziabad after him and questioned people in the area. Under the guidance of DCP Deepak Agrawal and ACP Vaibhav Jadhav, the police team lay in wait in Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, for about a week and caught the accused by laying a trap. On his information, Jayram and Shubhankit were caught from Noida, while Rajan was caught in Meerut.

The arrested accused include Abhishek Singh Thakur, Jayram alias Joginder Ashok Singh Thakur, Shubhankit Nilesh Kumar Chaturvedi and Nagpur resident Rajan Sami Shama. Rajan is a native of Nagpur. He has earlier been arrested in two cyber fraud cases. He was lodged in a Chennai jail a few years ago. After being released from jail on bail, he had helped the other accused get bail as well. Their friendship had deepened since then.

According to police, the gang planned last month to rob a bullion trader in Nagpur. Abhishek, Joginder, Shubhankit and other accused came to Nagpur. Rajan arranged for them to stay in a hotel. The accused scouted bullion shops in different parts of the city in an SUV and took care that police did not get any clue about them. Finally, the plan to rob Dhomane's shop was made.

Rajan was given Rs 70,000 to buy a motorcycle. He bought the bike from an auto dealer. After carrying out the robbery, the four accused went towards the Outer Ring Road on the bike. Later, the bike was put back into the SUV and thrown into a drain. Police have not released the name of the gang's leader. Commissioner Nangare Patil said the gang's leader is a very cunning criminal.

The Commissioner said Crime Branch Inspector Shubhangi Deshmukh, API Chetan Borkhede, Nitin Chulpar, Rajaram Jadhav, PSI Vivek Jhingre and their team used technology in a very professional manner in the operation. The team is therefore also being given a reward of Rs 25,000.

Head constables Arjun Yadav, Kamlesh Gener, Manoj Tekam, Pritam Yadav, Ritesh Tumdam, Yogesh Wasnik, Mahendra Sadmake, Nitin Wasnik, Chandrashekhar Raghorte, Ananta Kshirsagar, Parag Dhok, Roshan Tiwari, Nitin Verma, Kamlesh Gahlod, Sandeep Pande, Sudhir Pawar, Kunal Gedam, Dheeraj Panchbhave, Mithun Naik, Chaitanya, Parmeshwar, Ashish Dhandre and Azmat Sheikh played an important role in catching the accused.