Jamshedpur: Guised as cops, criminals loot gold worth Rs 10 lakh at Sakchi

Two staff of hallmarking centre fall prey to looters

Cops obtain CCTV footage of crime, launch manhunt

Traders worried over repetition of loot crimes in city

Mail News Service

Jamshedpur, Feb 18: In a yet another daring act, criminals looted gold worth Rs 10 lakh from the two staff of a hallmarking shop near Basant Central at Sakchi on Friday evening.

Sources said the incident took place around 4 pm when the victims, Bobby and Shubham, staff of Rishabh Sarraf, were carrying a bag containing around 200 grams of gold ornaments from a jewelry shop in Dalda Line to the hallmarking shop situated at Shiv Mandir Line, Sakchi. As the two reached near Basant Central, two criminals, clad in police uniform, reached there on a motorcycle and intercepted them. The culprits, posing as police officers, told the victims they had got a tip-off about there being cannabis and marijuana in their bag. Before the shocked victims could respond, the culprits took them aside and asked them to open the bag and show its contents to them. No sooner did the victims open the bag, the culprits grabbed the gold and decamped from the scene, sources said.

Sources said the hallmarking centre is run by one Rishabh Sarraf. Sarraf had sent his two staff to Dalda Line to bring gold ornaments from clients for hallmarking as he usually did.

Senior police officials rushed to the scene on getting complaint from the hallmarking centre owner. SP (City) Subhash Chandra Jaat visited the crime scene and started investigation into the loot. He inquired about the incident from local traders and issued instructions to the city police officials to conduct rapid searches based on the findings. He also looked for CCTV footage of the incident for a clue into the loot.

Armed criminals had looted Rs 32 lakh from the two staff of Chhaganlal Dayaljee Sons showroom near Gajraj Mansion at Bistupur in broad daylight on 14^th February last. The showroom staff were about to deposit the cash in Canara Bank when criminals overtook them and looted the cash after injuring the two. Police are still conducting searches to detect this loot incident.

Members of Singhbhum Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) Vijay Anand Moonka, Suresh Sonthalia, national secretary, Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) and Mukesh Mittal, vice president of SCCI (public relations and welfare) and others from the city business community also reached Sakchi on getting the news. They condemned the incident and sought speedy recovery of the stolen gold.

District BJP president Gunjan Yadav, BJP leader Dinesh Kumar and Bharatiya Jantantra Morcha leader Akash Saha also condemned the incident and demanded measures to contain the spurt in crime.