Meerut police have arrested three members of an interstate gang involved in jewelry robberies in connection with a Rs50 lakh gold heist in Shastri Nagar. Two of the accused sustained injuries during a brief encounter with the police.
The case dates back to August 12, when goldsmith Dilawar Hussain returned from Chandpur (Bijnor) carrying gold ornaments collected from Dipu Jewellers. He was accompanied by his associate Rajesh Malik, who dropped him at Sohrab Gate bus stand. Two men approached Dilawar under the pretext of checking his belongings, distracted him, and fled with a bag containing gold worth approximately Rs50 lakh. A case was registered at Nauchandi police station under BNS section 309(4).
Based on CCTV footage and intelligence inputs, police traced the suspects. On Wednesday, Vishwajit Singh (34) from Dehradun, Mohd Firoz Khan (28) from Pune, and Durgesh Kumar (49) from Deoband, Saharanpur, were arrested near Jagriti Vihar in Shastri Nagar. Vishwajit and Firoz were shot in the leg while attempting to flee and later hospitalized in stable condition.
Police recovered 304 grams of stolen gold ornaments, two unnumbered motorcycles, two country-made pistols with live cartridges, and Rs50,000 in cash from the accused.
During interrogation, the accused revealed they are part of a larger interstate network. They named associates Habib alias Sameer (Pune), Bagar Ali (Bhopal), Haider Irani, and Mohd Mashaallah Irani (Bhopal). Durgesh Kumar, a goldsmith, allegedly acted as a fence selling the stolen ornaments.
Several members have previous criminal records: Durgesh, Habib, and Vishwajit were jailed in 2021 for a gold heist in Hisar, while Durgesh and Habib had also served jail terms in 2015 for a similar case in Mumbai. Police are now hunting the remaining gang members.
