: The Crime Branch of the Navi Mumbai police on Tuesday arrested four people, including three from Tamil Nadu, in connection with the Rs. 6-crore heist at the Popular Gold Finance Company office at Seawoods on August 5, taking the number of arrests to five.
Five masked men had barged into the finance firm office and held the employees at knifepoint, and fled with 23 kg gold and Rs. 9 lakh in cash, totally amounting to over Rs. 6 crore. On checking CCTV footage, the police found there was another accused waiting for the five in a Swift Dzire, which was later found abandoned in Kalamboli. The vehicle, however, was not of much help since the number plate was fake and belonged to a Kolhapur resident.
Two weeks later, the Mumbai Police Crime Branch arrested the alleged mastermind, identified as Arputharaj Nadar, and handed him over to the Navi Mumbai police.
“On interrogation, Nadar disclosed that a total of 10 persons were involved in the heist. Based on the information provided by Nadar, we have been able to arrest four more accused,” said DCP (Crime) Dilip Sawant.
“We have recovered 1.4 kg gold from the accused. We are making every effort to track down the absconding accused and recover the entire loot,” said Commissioner of Police Hemant Nagrale.
The writer is a freelance journalist
