VIJAYAWADA: The One-Town police on Tuesday arrested two youngsters and seized from them silver ornaments weighing 13 kg, which were estimated to cost about Rs. 2.6 lakhs.

The ornaments were stolen from a house on Canal Road on the night of December 13 and the police found that the complainant was carrying on with his silver business without possessing any licence and evading payment of taxes to the Government.

Assistant commissioner of police (west zone) L. Vijay Kumar, at a press conference, charged Berulal Jain alias Pindu (19) and Sumundhar Singh (20), both natives of Danpur village of Julur district in Rajashtan and presently residing on Canal Road, with stealing silver ornaments from the house of Julam Singh.

Mr. Kumar said Julam Singh, a native of Rajasthan, was buying silver ornaments in bulk from his place and selling them in retail to jewellers in Krishna, Guntur and Khammam districts.

Singh had his godown on the first floor of a building near Vinayaka temple on Canal Road.

The burglary occurred when Singh's associates went to Marwadi Bhojanalaya on Sivalayam Street for dinner on the night of December 13. They returned to the godown in 45 minutes and found the door broke open.

Complaint lodged

They brought the issue to the notice of Singh, who, in turn, lodged a complaint with the police.

In his complaint, Singh stated that 8 kg of silver ornaments and Rs. 40,000 cash were found missing from his shop.

Following a tip-off, the police took the two accused into custody from railway station on Tuesday morning and seized the ornaments.

Mr. Kumar said three more persons - Raju Chowdhury, Bavish Chodhury and Saleem - were also involved in the offence.

He charged Julam Singh with deceiving the Government by evading sales tax by doing business without maintaining proper records.

"Though the burglars decamped with 40 kg of silver ornaments, he complained that only 8 kg of ornaments were found missing. We will send a letter to the officials of income tax department to take note of the developments and question Singh," Mr. Kumar said.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail