Karnataka   

Gunmen pull off biggest gold heist in Bangalore

BANGALORE: In a brazen heist, a four-member gang robbed an outlet of a jewellery chain on Kammanahalli Main Road here on Saturday and wiped the place clean of all its gold — 36 kg of the precious metal worth Rs. 3.6 crore, according to the proprietors — besides looting Rs. 3 lakh in cash.

This is the biggest jewellery heist yet in the city. The well-dressed gang members entered the Chemmanur Jewellers outlet, one of the 15 owned by the chain, around 10.45 a.m. and threatened the nine employees at gunpoint before fleeing with the loot.

Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Gopal B. Hosur said the four turned up when the store, located in Meeta Residency, had just opened for the day.

Brandishing their revolvers, they herded the employees into a room and stashed the gold jewellery and the cash into a gunny bag. They did not touch the silver articles. “It was all over in half an hour,” Mr. Hosur said.

A security guard at Meeta Residency, who was reluctant to give his name, said he saw some men drive off in a car. “I saw some persons going in a cement-coloured car around 11.15 a.m. when I was approaching my cabin after attending to a resident’s call. I could not write down the registration number,” he said.

Based on his statement, the police are investigating whether the gang did come by car. “We are working on some clues. We will be successful in tracking down the suspects,” Mr. Hosur said.

The police viewed the footage of two of the four CCTVs in the shop which shows the robbers in the act.

“We are not sure of the type of revolvers used by them,” Mr. Hosur said.

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

Stories in this Section

Gunmen pull off biggest gold heist in Bangalore
Good film with obvious limitations film reviews
Too beautiful to miss
Neither style nor content
A fading comic franchise
Missing child found
Flood-hit people left in the lurch, says H.K. Patil
Work on Bhadra canal stopped
People of Chenal waiting to be relocated
MOM still ‘sick’
Scientific survey of BCs in April
The emerging power of panchayats Karnataka: 60 years of independence
Belgaum, a centre of the freedom struggle
Bangalore boy kidnapped, rescued
Dharna
Bandh call opposed
Move to privatise KSRTC opposed
Raising a stink
Power shutdown today
Eye check-up camp

Copyright © 2007, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu