Hyderabad, October 09: The security guards who made off with gold at Shankarlal and Sons Jewellers last night damaged the closed circuit cameras but their movements were recorded by surveillance cameras installed in the showroom.
They showed the guards, all beloging to Nepal, moving in the first floor of the store and later bundling the valuables.
“They stayed for 40 minutes on the showroom premises. After tying up those present inside, the burglars fled the place locking the shutter from outside,’’ a police official said.
The entire drama unfolded around 9.30 p.m when the staff in the showroom packed all the jewellery for storing them in the safe.
Police suspect that the guards entered the showroom after the shutters were downed and created a terror.
“Brandishing ‘kanjars’ (knives), the guards thrashed some of the staff members to create fear among others,” a senior police official said.
Then they tied some of the staff members with nylon ropes available in the showroom and some other with their shirts.
“Though there were seven persons including the showroom owner, Anil Kumar Modi, they did not resist the robbers fearing threat to their lives,’’ sources said.
The guards, police said, were hired by Adhunik detective and management services based at Rasoolpura. “The four involved in the heist were employed for the last five years. Only one of them had left the organisation three months back. “Since then, the staff did not see him near the showroom but spotted him yesterday evening,” police said.
“We are suspecting the involvement of four to five persons behind the incident,’’ Banjara Hills ACP R Ravinder Reddy said.
Four of them were identified as Vikas, who is supposed to be the kingpin of the conspiracy, Vijay, Aziz and Sunil.
Aziz is the one who left the detective services three months back.
Meanwhile, the jewellery shop owner lodged a complaint with the police that ornaments worth Rs 12-Rs 15 lakh were stolen from the store.
Police registered a case against the private security agency for failing to adhere to norms. “The agency did not have a proper address and did not maintain records relating to details of those hired by it,” the ACP said.
Special teams have been formed to trace the accused.
–Agencies