JEWELLER FIGHTS THIEF WITH ₹10L GOLD, PASSERBY MAKES IT EASY FOR HIM TO FLEE

MUMBAI: Posing as an acquaintance of a customer, a robber on Saturday fled with gold ornaments worth ₹10 lakh from a jewellery store in Nalasopara in the afternoon. The thief tried to scare the jeweller, Sureshkumar Dhakad (58), using a fake gun, however, Dhakad confronted him, which led to a scuffle.

Seeing the two fight, people from the neighbourhood intervened and tried to separate them, not knowing that the jeweller was trying to stop the thief. In the middle of the fight, the robber saw the perfect opportunity to flee the spot.

Dhakad said that though he kept shouting that the other man was a thief and had a pistol, the intervention of the passersby helped the unidentified man flee with the gold.

The police officers said that the unidentified man entered the jewellery store and introduced himself as an acquaintance of one of the customers of the shop. The man then asked Dhakad to show some silver ornaments and purchased a few silver coins. When he was about to leave, he told Dhakad that his wife was on her way and wanted to buy some gold earrings for their anniversary. “I believed the man, as he left the store and saw him waiting for someone. I even saw him talking over his mobile phone,” said Dhakad.

A few minutes later, the man entered the shop again and placed his backpack on the counter. Dhakad asked him to put the bag down, the robber then removed a gun from his bag and pointed it towards Dhakad.

The police officers said that Dhakad saw the gun and jumped towards the robber and the two engaged in a scuffle. “I fought him off but then he pushed me beneath the counter and grabbed three gold ornament trays from the display unit and put them in his bag. He then began to flee, that is when I chased him and tried stopping him at the entrance,” said Dhakad.