Colluding with four others, the 51-year-old, who was working as the bodyguard of an Uttar Pradesh-based MLA, hatched the plot to steal gold ornaments from a jewellery shop in Khar
A 51-year-old man was arrested on Tuesday in connection with a 2008 robbery case, where he had stolen gold ornaments worth Rs 90 lakh from a jewellery shop. Before his arrest, accused Hakim Yadav was working as the bodyguard of an Uttar Pradesh-based MLA.
The robbery occurred in broad daylight in 2008, when four men, armed with guns, entered Dinesh Jewellery shop in Khar. At gunpoint, they robbed gold ornaments worth R90 lakh and fled after assaulting the owner. Sources said Yadav was the mastermind and has been wanted since 2008. He was caught after inspector Dinesh Kadam received a tip-off from an informer, who said Yadav is going to land in the city along with his MLA boss Subhash Passi. Following this, PI Kadam and his team laid a trap and nabbed Yadav on Tuesday from Passi’s residence in Juhu.
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“After committing the crime, Yadav fled from the city and settled in UP. About five years ago, Passi was elected as an MLA in Saidpur from UP. Yadav then started working as Passi’s bodyguard,” said a police officer from Khar Police Station.
“Yadav has confessed to his crime and also revealed that he had got the tip off from a staffer working in the jewellery shop. He also confirmed that he and Subhash Passi know each other,” added the officer.
The heist
Cops said at the time of the incident on November 2 in 2008, four people had entered the jewellery shop in Khar Danda at around 10 am. One of them, who had a revolver, assaulted the shop owner Paresh Shantilal Jagwaat, a resident of Avenue Road in Santacruz West.
“They had even roughed up two other people inside the shop. While one of the miscreants threatened the people with his pistol, the other three were busy looting the shop. They robbed gold ornaments weighing around 7.25kg that were kept in a safe,” said an official from Khar police station.
After the owner filed the complaint, Khar police had swung into action and arrested the four accused on November 14, 2008, with the help of CCTV footage. Sheshnath Ramanand Upadhyay (39), one of the accused, was identified on CCTV and caught from Oshiwara. Cops seized gold and silver worth more than R2 lakh from his house.
Accomplices nabbed
The other accomplices were Ramkeval alias Rakesh Singh Rajkumar Saroj who is supposedly a Bahujan Samaj Party member from UP and Dinesh Ramashray Yadav, who teaches wrestling in Pune. Another accomplice, Ramji Baldev Yadav, is said to have driven the Honda Accent car, which was used in the robbery. Dinesh and Ramji were on their way to Saroj’s house and were nabbed there as well.
Three country-made revolvers along with six live rounds were recovered from them back then. As per police sources, when police arrested the four in 2008, they had recovered 40% of the stolen ornaments. They are finding where Yadav spent the remaining 60% of the loot.
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