JEWELLER HELD FOR FLEEING WITH GOLD WORTH ₹25 LAKH

MUMBAI: The police on Monday arrested a jeweller for allegedly misappropriating gold worth ₹25 lakh which was given to him for making jewellery. The accused, identified as Minazuddin Shaikh (32), was absconding for the past seven months before he was arrested from Punjab’s Jalandhar, where he was hiding with his family by assuming a new name.

A native of West Bengal, Shaikh had been living in a rented apartment in Dahisar east from where he used to run a business of polishing and designing jewellery for the past 18 years.

Police officers said that during the Covid-19 pandemic-induced lockdown when business was low, Shaikh had taken a loan from a local moneylender for his family expenses, but he could not repay the loan. “As Shaikh needed quick money, he misappropriated the jewellery worth ₹25 lakh given to him by various jewellers for polishing and designing,” said a police officer.

Seven months ago, a jeweller approached the police claiming that Shaikh’s apartment was locked and he had stopped responding to calls. “As the due date of delivery of the jewellery approached, the jewellery trader contacted Shaikh, but he had left his house along with his family,” said Somnath Gharge, deputy commissioner of police (zone 12).

Two weeks ago, the police received a tip-off that money had been withdrawn from the bank account of Shaikh’s wife in Punjab. A police team subsequently left for Punjab and arrested Shaikh from the house where he was staying with his wife and children.

Shaikh was brought to Mumbai on Monday.