Police combed 500+ CCTV cameras and raided cities across Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh’s neighbouring Uttarakhand and beyond to recover 1,510 grams of stolen jewellery
JAIPUR : It began with days of friendly phone calls and ended with two employees left standing outside a shop, holding nothing. Police in Ajmer district have arrested three men accused of cheating a Churu jeweller out of about 1,510 grams of gold ornaments in Kishangarh.
Madanganj police recovered jewellery worth around ₹1.80 crore, along with ₹1.32 lakh in cash, from the accused.
The bait. Manphool Soni, proprietor of Payal Jewellers in Chadwas, Churu, told police that a man calling himself Rahul Soni had phoned him for three or four days to place an order. Trusting him, Mr. Soni sent two employees, Ram Soni and Manoj Soni, to Kishangarh on November 5 with the gold and its bills.
The vanishing act. The employees reached around 3:30 pm. Rahul took them to a house above Gunsagar Jewellers, where they showed the jewellery and handed over the bills. He then left on the pretext of making his selection. After repeated calls he returned and led them to RR Jewellers in Madanganj, saying payment and the remaining goods would follow. There he told them to wait, got on a scooter and fled, according to the complaint. Mr. Soni filed his report on November 10.
The chase. Police teams analysed footage from more than 500 CCTV cameras across Kishangarh’s streets and main roads to identify the suspects. The accused kept changing hideouts, police said. Teams trailed them for days and raided Beawar, Rajsamand, Ajmer, Ladnun, Churu, Bikaner, Sriganganagar, Hanumangarh, Haridwar and Jaipur before making the arrests.
The accused are Rahul Kumar Soni (39), of Churu and currently living in Madanganj; Avinash Kumar Singh (37), of Sultanpur in Uttar Pradesh and currently in Ramganj, Ajmer; and Prem Navlani (34), of Ramganj, Ajmer.
The operation was led by Madanganj SHO Bhawani Singh, under Additional SP (Rural) Dr. Lal Chand Kayal and Kishangarh City Circle Officer Dharmraj Chaudhary, as part of a drive against absconders in property crimes ordered by Ajmer SP Harshvardhan Agarwala.
