Mumbai Police today claimed to have busted an inter-state gang involved in duping jewellers, with the arrest of six persons, including two sisters.
Police said that members of this gang had walked away with jewellery worth Rs 7 lakh after giving a fake demand draft to a shop in the iconic Taj Mahal hotel in south Mumbai last year.
The arrested accused have been identified as Janak Dholakiya (58), Surendar Panjabi (58), Rajesh Karani (37) Ashok Mehta (63) and two sisters Mini Pandey (21) and Tina Pandey (20), police said.
"The booty worth Rs 7 lakh was recovered from Gujarat. Six fake DDs, cheques, two scanners, six fake PAN cards and a laptop were also seized from the inter-state gang. The group has not only targeted jewellery stores in Mumbai, but also in Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Gujarat," Deputy Police Commissioner Ravindra Shisve told reporters today.
The accused confessed to have committed four more crimes in a similar fashion in Mumbai alone.
Throwing light on the crime, Colaba police station officials said that on June 15 last year, posing as father of Pandey sisters, Panjabi had entered the Dia Precious Jewellery shop in south Mumbai's Taj hotel.
"Pretending to be customers, the trio had earlier visited the shop and selected the jewellery worth Rs seven lakh saying they would like to purchase it in a few days. On June 15, they went the store again and took away valuables after issuing the DD worth Rs 7 lakh in favour of the shop," Shisve added.
However, when the shop management went to encash the DD, it was found to be fake, following which an FIR was registered at Colaba police station.
Throwing light on the gang's modus operandi, police said Dholakiya chooses the target and sends Panjabi and two sisters to strike a deal to purchase the valuables.
During the probe, Panjabi and his associate Dholakiya, the kingpin of the gang, were arrested on December 19 from Nalasopara area.
