18 December,2010 04:04 AM IST | | Shiva Devnath
Smitten by her charms, man robbed diamond merchant of gems worth Rs 23.8 lakh to blow cash at dance bar
Blinded by his love for a bar dancer, Mira Road resident Kalpesh Shah looted his employer of diamonds worth Rs 23.8 lakh, all in a bid to woo her.
Shah even timed the robbery to gift his paramour a diamond ring on her birthday.
Police officials arrested Shah (centre) after they received a tip-off of his lavish spendings
However, his tipping of waiters and splurging money on dancers in a suburban bar brought him under the scanner, and he was subsequently arrested for the theft.
According to the police, Shah worked at diamond merchant Harish Ramji Lala's shop.
On October 28, Shah reported to work but soon disappeared from the scene. When the manager called him on his mobile phone, it was switched off.
Even after repeated attempts his phone was not reachable. Smelling a rat, the manager checked the lockers only to discover that the diamonds were missing.
Lala immediately filed a complaint at L T Marg police station. Lala alleged that Shah used a set of duplicate keys to rob him.
u00a0
The officers then received a tip-off about a person who fitted the description of the suspect. Informers told the police that the man whom they suspected was seen with a bar dancer in Mira Road.
'Bahut maal hai'
Informers overheard the suspect telling Dolly, one of the bar dancer's aliases that he had the loot with him.
u00a0
They also overheard the suspect saying that he would present the diamonds to her in the next few days.
The cops ran a background check on Dolly and found that she was patronised by Shah.
The bar dancer was sure that her patron was now hooked on to her and would do anything to woo her.u00a0 However, she distanced herself from him after learning that he was broke.
Shah desired Dolly's company and tried to impress her by showing off his money. Officials nabbed Shah from Borivli railway station when he was planning to visit his girl friend.
Diamonds worth Rs 22 lakh and Rs 50,000 cash were recovered from the suspect, a fact confirmed by API Vijay Kandalgaonkar.
