In a significant breakthrough, Udupi Town police, in collaboration with Maharashtra police, arrested five individuals accused of stealing gold jewellery worth nearly Rs95 lakh from a jewellery shop in Udupi. The operation led to the recovery of stolen assets valued at Rs87.4 lakh, including gold, silver, cash, and a vehicle used in the crime.
The complaint was lodged by Vaibhav Mohan Ghatge, who stated that on the night of September 8, after closing his shop around 10 pm, he left the premises. The next morning, he discovered that thieves had broken in using a duplicate key and stolen gold jewellery worth approximately Rs95.7 lakh. The jewellery had been stored overnight in a refinery machine.
Following the complaint, the Udupi Town police registered a case under Sections 331(4), 331(3), and 305 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
Superintendent of Police Hariram Shankar briefed the media, announcing the formation of a special investigation team led by Udupi Town Police Inspector Manjunath V Badiger, supported by PSIs Bharatesh Kankanawadi, Tejaswi TI (Kapu PS), Vinaykumar K (Kollur PS), and other personnel.
The Karnataka police worked closely with Maharashtra police officers from the Akluj station—SR Madubavi, VB Ghatge, and VA Sate—to track the suspects to Nimgaon in Malshiras taluk of Solapur district, Maharashtra. All five accused were arrested there.
The arrested suspects have been identified as Shubham Tanaji Sathe (25), Praveen Appa Sathe (23), Nilesh Bapu Kasturi (19), Sagar Dattatreya Kandagale (32), and Bagav Rohit Shrimant (25), all residents of Solapur, Maharashtra.
Authorities successfully recovered valuables worth Rs87.4 lakh from the accused, which included 748.8 grams of gold jewellery valued at around Rs74.8 lakh, 4.4 kilograms of silver worth approximately Rs3.6 lakh, Rs5 lakh in cash, and a car used in the crime valued at Rs4 lakh.
