Mumbai: The Dadar police have arrested a jewellery artisan for allegedly cheating several jewellers and fleeing with gold ornaments valued at over Rs 4.5 crore that were entrusted to him for remaking. However, the police have not been able to recover any of the stolen items from him.
Arrest and Legal Proceedings
A week after the registration of the First Information Report (FIR), a team from the Dadar police, led by Inspector Kishore Pawar, tracked the accused to his native place in Hooghly, West Bengal. Officials confirmed that they arrested Tanmay Maiti, 41, but no booty has been recovered from him. Maiti was produced before the 5th Metropolitan Magistrate VV Kulkarni. Public prosecutor Ravindra Patil argued that Maiti should be remanded to police custody to facilitate physical interrogation aimed at recovering the stolen gold. The court granted police custody until June 2.
Details of the Complaint
The case stems from a complaint filed by Sanjay Jain, owner of Nava Gems in Jhaveri Bazaar. Jain alleged that he handed over 2.25 kg of gold worth Rs 3.53 crore to Maiti at his Dadar workshop in May, through his staff members Jitu Soni and Vijay Jain, for the purpose of making jewellery. The gold consignment included 17 biscuits weighing 100 grams each, one 500-gram biscuit, and one 50-gram biscuit.
According to Jain, when he contacted Maiti on May 20 regarding the jewellery order, the accused informed him that the ornaments were ready and would be delivered shortly. However, on May 22, another acquaintance informed Jain that Maiti had shut down his factory and absconded. Repeated attempts to contact him failed as his mobile phone was switched off.
Other Victims
During the inquiry, police discovered that other jewellers had also allegedly been cheated by Maiti. Baba Kolekar reportedly lost 625 grams of 22-carat gold worth Rs 86 lakh, while Mahesh Vaidya of Pandurang Hari Vaidya and Sons Jewellers allegedly lost 84.034 grams of gold valued at Rs 12.15 lakh. The total gold allegedly misappropriated by the accused is valued at Rs 4.51 crore and weighs approximately 2.959 kg.
