Electrician held for stealing gold jewellery worth 20 cr from showroom, held

New Delhi: A 25-year-old electrician has been arrested for allegedly stealing gold jewellery worth 20 crore from his employer’s showroom in southeast Delhi’s Kalkaji, police said on Thursday.

To hide his identity, he wore a PPE kit and covered his face with a mask, police said.

The accused has been identified as Sheikh Nur Rahman, a resident of Hooghly district in West Bengal, they said.

Rahman used to work in the showroom as an electrician. He told police that he was harassed by his colleagues who gave him orders like making tea, bringing water among others.

To teach them a lesson, the tech-savvy electrician planned to steal from the showroom. He watched videos on YouTube to learn to operate various tools, a senior police officer said.

On Wednesday, manager of Anjali Jewellers Arijit Chakraborty informed the police about the burglary at the showroom.

Police rushed to the spot and found that most of the ornaments on the ground floor were missing and the locks of the drawers were also broken, they said.

Police found that the accused entered the showroom through the fiber roof sheet of the third floor.

During investigation, several teams of different police stations of the southeast district were formed. Police checked the CCTV footage of the showroom and found a person wearing PPE kit stealing the jewellery. The accused knew the exact place of the valuables, the officer said.

When police checked those who were absent from the showroom, they found that Rahman had gone on leave on January 10, saying he was visiting his native place. He was supposed to come back on January 25, police said.

However, with the help of technical surveillance, police found that he had not visited his native place and was in the city, they said.

“Police traced the accused in Karol Bagh area and nabbed him. The stolen jewellery worth Rs 20 crore and Rs 23,000 in cash was recovered from his possession,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (southeast) Rajendra Prasad Meena said.

During interrogation, the accused said he had committed the burglary because he wanted to take revenge as he was humiliated and harassed by his colleagues, the DCP said.

Rahman is tech-savvy and learnt to operate several high-tech tools, including pressure cutter, gas cutter, screwdriver, Allen Key, torch with long charging, on YouTube, police said.

He conducted a recce of the adjoining buildings and took leave on January 10. He found that one of the adjacent buildings had several vacant flats. He also prepared a list of the tools which he would require to enter the house, the DCP said.

During leave, he collected the articles, including screw driver, gas cutter and the PPE kit. He went to the terrace of the identified building on Tuesday. He jumped through three buildings and reached the showroom terrace, police said.

He wore the PPE kit, cut the fiber roof of the third floor of the building and entered the premises. He had every tool to open the drawers in the showroom. After the burglary, he tied the jewellery bag with a rope, pulled it upside and fled, police said.

Police said Rahman did not have any plan to dispose the jewellery and was looking for a train to reach his native place.

Rahman joined Anjali Jewellery in Kolkata around two years ago and he joined the showroom in Kalkaji as an electrician a year back, police added.