Gold ingots worth Rs 2.5 cr robbed at knife point

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: A jeweller and his employee were robbed of 5.5 kilograms of gold, worth Rs 2.5 crore, in Halasuru Gate police station limits on Friday night. The victim was returning to his shop on a scooter along with his employee after purchasing gold ingots.

The two robbers, who were following them, tried to attack them with a machete. They got hold of the scooter, containing ingots, and fled.

Siddeshwar Hariba Shinde, who runs Sanskar Enterprises, a gold bullion business at Bettappa Lane in NT Pet, and a refinery on the Kempanna Lane in the vicinity has filed a complaint in this regard with the Halasuru Gate police.

It may be noted that in March the same businessman had filed a complaint against a police sub inspector and a constable attached to the Halasuru Gate police station accusing them of taking a gold ingot worth around Rs 10.5 lakh from his shop. This had led to a departmental inquiry against the two policemen.

Shinde, a resident of Chowdeshwari Street, has been in the business for the last six years. He has told police that he buys gold ingots from a shop in the central business district near the city police commissioner’s office.

On Friday night at around 8.30 pm, Shinde along with his employee Sooraj Srikanth Jadav left his shop in NT Pet to buy gold ingots. The complainant claims to have purchased the gold ingots and left the shop around 9.10 pm.

They crossed General Post Office, Vidhana Soudha, K.R. Circle, Mysore Bank and reached Avenue Road. The robbery happened while they were taking a turn at the 22nd Cross on the CubbonPet main road.

“The victim claims that two robbers on a bike stopped their scooter, which Jadav was driving. The accused who was riding pillion pulled out a machete and tried to attack Shinde. This unnerved the victims and they fell down along with the scooter. The accused took away the scooter and fled towards Sanjeev Nayak Lane,” said an officer, based on the businessman’s complaint.

One of the two robbers is said to have been wearing a red jacket and the other was in black jacket. As the accused were wearing helmets, their faces could not be seen.