Three held for stealing 400 gm gold worth Rs 45 lakh in central Delhi's Karol Bagh

New Delhi, Nov 4 (PTI) Three men have been arrested for allegedly stealing 400 grams of gold jewellery worth around Rs 45 lakh from a man in central Delhi's Karol Bagh by posing as traffic regulators and distracting him, police said on Wednesday.

     The entire stolen jewellery has been recovered, they said.

     The incident took place on November 1 when the complainant visited a jewellery store in Beadonpura to collect gold ornaments weighing around 400 grams.

     After collecting the jewellery around 6 pm, he placed it in a bag hanging behind his motorcycle and left for his office at Britannia Chowk. On reaching there, he found that the bag's chain had been opened and the jewellery was missing, police said.

     During the investigation, police examined CCTV footage from the surrounding areas and found that three men had jointly executed the theft at the Bank Street intersection in Beadonpura.

     One of the accused allegedly posed as a traffic regulator and stopped the complainant's motorcycle, while another stealthily opened his bag and removed the jewellery. The third accused provided cover and facilitated the theft, they said.

     Using CCTV footage, local intelligence and criminal records, police identified two suspects and arrested them from the Anand Parbat area on November 3.

     During interrogation, they disclosed the involvement of their third associate, who was subsequently apprehended from the same area, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central) Rohit Rajbir Singh said.

     The accused have been identified as Bharat (27), Kapil alias Rahul (33) and Kavya Aryan Saini alias Bhanja (22), all residents of Anand Parbat, police said.

     During questioning, the accused disclosed that they targeted people carrying bags in congested and high-traffic areas. While one of them distracted the victims by posing as a traffic regulator, the others would steal valuables, including cash, mobile phones and jewellery, from their bags, they said.

     The accused told police that they resorted to such activities to sustain their livelihood and meet their personal expenses.

     Kapil is a Bad Character (BC) of Anand Parbat police station and has 14 previous criminal involvements, including cases related to murder, robbery, theft and under the Arms Act, police said.

     Bharat also has previous criminal involvements, including cases of murder and theft, they added. Further investigation is underway.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)