Uttarakhand jeweller held for buying stolen ornaments

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 22 

The miscreants involved in the temple thefts in the city used to sell the stolen valuables to a Uttarakhand resident, who used to melt the gold and silver ornaments into bricks so that these could be easily sold in the market.

The UT police arrested the jeweller and recovered two silver bricks, weighing 8.40 kg and 5.50 kg. The police also recovered Rs 1 lakh on the disclosure made by one of the accused arrested earlier.

DSP (East) Satish Kumar said the three accused arrested earlier for thefts at the Sector 24, Sector 16 and two other temples in Sector 27 had revealed the name of Hanuman (39), a resident of Kashipur, Uttarakhand, who used to purchase the stolen gold and silver ornaments from the thieves. 

“The accused used to melt the jewellery into bricks and further sell these,” the DSP said. Two silver bricks, which were made from the jewellery stolen from the temples in Sector 16 and 24, have been recovered from the accused. Two gold nose rings, which were stolen from the temple in Sector 24, were also recovered from the accused. The police said the estimated cost of the silver bricks was around Rs 6 lakh.

The DSP said on the disclosure made by Harjeet Singh, alias Jeet, who, along with two other accomplices, was arrested earlier, the police managed to recover Rs 1 lakh from his brother’s house.  Investigations have revealed that the silver “chhatar”, weighing around 10 kg, that was stolen from the Digamber Jain temple in Sector 27, was also sold by the accused. The police said the accused used to return to Delhi after committing the thefts. 

Three more at large

Three more accused involved in the temple thefts are still at large. 

Sector 28 temple was next target

The police said a temple in Sector 28 was next on the target of the thieves as they had already done a recce. However, they were arrested before they could strike.