Mumbai: Three habitual offenders held for robbing angadia of gold jewellery worth Rs 33 lakh

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The Mumbai police have arrested three history-sheeters for allegedly robbing an 'angadia' (traditional money courier) of Rs 33.45 lakh-worth gold jewellery and trying to extort money from him at Kalbadevi, an official told news agency PTI on Thursday.

The incident took place on Tuesday evening and the police arrested the accused within three hours of the registration of the case, while the robbed valuables were recovered within 12 hours, he said.

"When the angadia was putting parcels of gold jewellery for to Pune and Kolhapur in his car, the accused trio, identified as Nilesh Tiwari, Silvaraj Kala and Abhiraj Khilari, came near his office and demanded Rs 25,000 from his to let go the vehicle," the official told PTI.

The accused persons threatened him before decamping with the gold jewellery, the police official said.

A first information report (FIR) was registered at the Lokmanya Tilak Marg police station. A probe was launched and the accused persons were arrested.

Tiwari was earlier named in four offences of murder, robbery, riots and extortion, he said, adding that there were 17 cases registered against Silvaraj, including under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA).

Meanwhile, gold ornaments worth about Rs 3.2 crore were stolen from a jewellery shop in Maharashtra's Thane district, an official told PTI on Thursday.

The police have registered a case against seven persons, including a watchman and his wife who lived at the shop in Ulhasnagar township. The couple is missing, he said.

On the intervening night of June 26 and June 27, six kilograms of gold jewellery worth nearly Rs 3.2 crore was stolen from the shop's locker after breaking it with a gas cutter, the official told PTI.

The police said the watchman was appointed a week ago.

Several teams have been formed to investigate the theft but no arrests have been made yet, the official told PTI.

(With inputs from PTI)