With the arrest of four persons from Bareilly, Noida and Meerut in Uttar Pradesh, the City police on Wednesday claimed to have solved sensational gunpoint dacoity at Dhomne Jewellers on MIDC-Hingna Road. Police have recovered a Fortuner SUV linked to the crime. The gang had looted gold and silver jewellery worth around Rs 40 lakh from the shop. Fingerprints found at the crime scene helped the police identify the suspects and track them down. Rakesh Dhomne owns the jewellery shop.

 

His employee, Shubham Hadge, was present when the dacoity took place. The accused allegedly threatened him with a gun and assaulted him before fleeing with jewellery weighing around 350 grams. Adressing a press conference, Commissioner of Police (CP) Vishwas Nangre Patil said that the Crime Branch and MIDC police launched a joint investigation. They examined more than 400 CCTV footage clips and used technical analysis and artificial intelligence (AI) to identify the suspects. Two Crime Branch teams were sent to Uttar Pradesh and Haryana. After tracking the suspects for seven days, the teams arrested four accused from different locations. Abhishek Singh Thakur was first detained in Bareilly. During interrogation, police gathered information about his accomplices. Jayram alias Jogindar Ashoksingh Thakur (19) and Shubhankit Nileshkumar Chaturvedi (22) were detained in Noida. Rajan Shami Sharma (29) was arrested in Meerut. 

 

 

According to the investigation, Rajan is a Nagpur resident whose family lives in Meerut. He developed contacts with criminals from Uttar Pradesh while lodged in a Chennai jail in a cyber fraud case. After his release, he remained in touch with them and allegedly began committing crimes with the group. DCP Detection Deepak Aggrawal said the gang initially planned a robbery in Delhi. Rajan asked the others to come to Nagpur. They arrived in September and rented a Thar SUV and a motorcycle to conduct a recce of the jewellery shop.

 

They later returned to their base. The gang came back to Nagpur on October 1 and allegedly committed the dacoity on October 3. The accused then fled towards Uttarakhand through Uttar Pradesh. Police sought assistance from IG Nilesh Bharne, a Nagpur native, in tracing the suspects at Uttarakhand. Investigators said the stolen jewellery had been handed over to an accomplice who is still absconding. Two other gang members also remain at large. The police attributed the breakthrough to fingerprint analysis, CCTV footage, AI-based investigation and coordination with police teams in other states. Addl CP Rajendra Dabhade, DCP Detection Deepak Aggrawal, ACP Vaibhav Jadhav were present in the press conference.