BENGALURU: Vyalikaval police on Friday arrested one more accused in the Samrat Jewels robbery case. With this, eight members of the gang have been arrested so far. The gang attempted to rob the jewellery store at Palace Guttahalli in Vyalikaval on August 21. Three men who posed as customers opened fire, but were outdone by the couple at the store.
The accused has been identified as Shankar, (39). He is a resident of Chickpet and owns gold jewellery polishing shop. A senior police officer said that Shankar was facing a financial crisis in his business. He contacted two of the gang members, Balaji Gayakwad and Prahallad Kailash Chowdary, who are allegedly Shankar’s relatives.
During interrogation, Chowdary, the kingpin of the crime and six of his associates revealed that Shankar shared details of Samrat Jewels and its owners’ movements to hatch the plot. He even showed the location of the jewellery shop to the robbers and asked them to go to house after the theft. The police who verified the call records of the accused found that Shankar was in constant touch with the gang members for the past few days. He was remanded in judicial custody on Saturday.
Four of the accused were arrested within three days after the robbery attempt. The kingpin, Chowdhary, was held in Pune two days later, based on information given by the four of the accused. The gang stole two bikes in KR Puram and Vyalikaval to escape the crime scene.