01 February,2012 07:39 AM IST | | Saurabh Vaktania
The miscreant, who's been detained, sent the whole police department into a tizzy, claiming a bag full of jewellery worth Rs 60 lakh had been stolen from his shop
The end of the financial year is nigh and everyone's scrambling for means to save a few bucks on tax. But you won't find this one in the manual. Nirmal Nagar police have arrested a jeweller who had filed a false complaint about a robbery, claiming 2 kg of jewellery worth Rs 60 lakh had been swiped from his shop. Cops say, jeweller Tejraj Jain wanted to take advantage of tax breaks when he made the complaint.
False alarm: As the theft was of a high amount, officers from several
outfits like the Crime Branch, DCP squads, the West Region squad and a
special team of policemen from Nirmal Nagar were deployed for the case.
Under scrutiny from superiors, the teams worked day and night to crack
the case. Representation pic
Jain (48), a resident of Fifth Road, Khar (West) is the owner of Ankita Jewellers at Amrish Bhavan, Khar (East). According to his complaint, on the morning of January 26, Jain left for his shop. Upon arriving there and opening the shutters, he went around to lock the side door and placed a bag containing jewellery on his desk. In the few seconds when his back was turned, the bag went missing. Jain first tried to search for it but failed. He then approached Nirmal Nagar police station and got a case registered.
Bag of tricks
Senior police inspector Pandurang Tangadpalle of Nirmal Nagar police station said, "Jain came to us claiming that a bag full of gold jewellery was stolen from his shop. He appeared extremely stressed and depressed by the incident. I formed a team of officers and it being a big case, I was personally involved in investigation."
As the theft was of a high amount, officers from several outfits like the Crime Branch, DCP squads, the West Region squad and a special team of policemen from Nirmal Nagar were deployed for the case. Under scrutiny from superiors, the teams worked day and night to crack the case.
"We activated our resources and all the informers were alerted. The jeweller had fooled all the teams with his acting. His conduct before us was remarkable. We never doubted him and in fact all the officers were sympathetic towards the complainant," said an officer from Nirmal Nagar police station. So much so that officials from the special squad found it difficult to believe when they were told that the jeweller himself was the culprit.
"This is really hard to believe. He should be punished with a severe sentence for wasting the time effort of all the police machinery," an officer from the special squad said on condition of anonymity.
Bullion-dollar plan: Jain (48) is the owner of Ankita Jewellers at Amrish
Bhavan, Khar (East).
Pulling a fast one
Tangadpalle added, "As time passed we were still clueless as to who was responsible for the crime. We tried our best sources but found no clues. Whenever Jain would come to the police station we had nothing to tell him; he would get more depressed and go home. Once I felt suspicious and asked one of my officers to interrogate Jain himself. While answering some of our questions he fumbled. We immediately smelt a rat and interrogated him further. After a few hours Jain told us the truth that he himself had hidden the jewellery at his shop."
A police team was sent to Jain's shop on Monday where they found the bag of valuables. "Jain did this because he wanted to save on tax and benefit from an insurance claim. Jain also wanted to indirectly tell his business customers that as he himself had no gold left, there was none to sell to them," said Tangadpalle.
"We have sent a report to the court, as the complainant is now himself an accused in the case. After receiving the court's directions, Jain will be booked for theft and lodging a false complaint," he added.
