Hyderabad, June 17: Less than a month after jewellery robbers struck at A S Rao Nagar, another gold shop in Neredmet was robbed in broad daylight by armed miscreants on Tuesday. Gold weighing more than 2 kg worth about Rs 50 lakh and cash of Rs 1 lakh was robbed from the shop located a stone’s throw away from the Alwal Deputy Commissioner of Police’s (DCP) office. It is located about 3 km from the jewellery store which was robbed on May 21.
Three unidentified miscreants threatened the shop owner with a revolver and fled with the booty. No CCTVs were installed in the shop.
The daylight robbery took place in the Matheshwari Jewellers (bankers and pawn brokers) at Ambedkar Nagar on the main road leading from A S Rao Nagar to Sainikpuri. The shop owner, Beraram, resides in the same locality and usually opens the shop by 8 am.
“It was around 8.15 am that three persons entered the shop. They had ordered a gold ring on Monday and paid Rs 1,000 as advance. I went into the adjacent room to fetch the ring they ordered from the safe,” the shop owner Beraram told Expresso.
As Beraram entered the room, the trio followed him. “Once they entered the room, one of them threatened me with a pistol and the other two pounced on me, gagged me with a plaster and tied my hangs and legs,” Beraram said.
The trio swept all the jewellery they could lay their hands on, into a bag, locked the jeweller in the room and walked out of the shop.
Beraram started punching the doors with his legs which attracted the attention of the owner of the neighbouring Santosh milk booth. The shop owner rushed inside and freed Beraram.
Incidentally, no other person, including those at the milk booth nor a nearby pan shop which opens at 5 am itself saw the trio entering or leaving the shop. “They walked into the shop but I do not how they left the place,” Beraram claimed.
Though the trio were asked to come at 10 am on Tuesday for the ring, they came much earlier, police said.
“Beraram said they had a weapon which was black in colour. It is not yet known whether it was a toy pistol or a country-made weapon,” Alwal DCP Chandrasekhar Reddy said.
Police said that Beraram was giving contradictory versions over the property loss. “Though there was much more jewellery in the shop, it was left untouched,” police officials said. Beraram claimed that 2 kg gold that he purchased and another kg of gold that was pledged by locals with him was missing. Though Beraram claimed that Rs 2.5 lakh cash went missing, it was later found that only Rs 1 lakh was stolen and the Rs 1.5 lakh was intact.
Locals, a majority of whom are from the lower income group, pledge their gold for small sums in this shop. “I pledged my gold jewellery without the knowledge of my husband.
What should I do now,” cried a woman, Srila.
Beraram, who was shown the photographs of the accused in the May 21 robbery at Shubha Lakshmi jewellers at A S Rao Nagar, said that one of them might be part of the gang which committed the robbery at his shop.
Meanwhile, local traders staged a dharna protesting the failure of the police to nab the culprits. Police suspect the gang which committed the robbery at Shubha Lakshmi Jewellers on May 21 might be involved in the offence.
–Agencies–