Almost twenty years in the past, Bengaluru witnessed one in every of its largest gold heists, the place a whopping 36 kg of gold was stolen at gunpoint from town. When the investigation didn’t make a lot headway, an unrelated homicide that befell 350 km away threw up sudden leads.
Regardless of having CCTV footage, the investigators didn’t have any leads on this 2007 theft case till the Dakshina Kannada police broke an online of crimes, resulting in the restoration of the gold.
It was Saturday, August 11, 2007. In east Bengaluru’s bustling Kammanahalli locality, outlets had simply opened. Round 10.45 am, employees on the Chemmanur Jewelry showroom—one of many metropolis’s largest gold retailers on the time—had been unpacking ornaments, making ready for the day’s gross sales.
Abruptly, a person walked in via the partially open shutter, pointing a gun on the shocked workers. 5 accomplices adopted, all armed. The robbers herded the employees into the locker room and seized their telephones. One stood guard, whereas the others looted gold jewelry from the counters, talking in a mixture of Kannada, Tamil, Hindi, and English. Oddly, they ignored the silver objects and left the shutter door open.
Earlier than fleeing in a gray Indica automobile, they destroyed 4 CCTV cameras— however not earlier than the cameras recorded a lot of the heist. They escaped with over 36 kg of gold jewelry and Rs 3 lakh. The stolen gold was valued at Rs 4 crore; immediately its price can be over Rs 34 crore. A retired police officer later mentioned it was the most important heist Bengaluru had ever seen.
Then metropolis police commissioner Neelam Achutha Rao and joint commissioner of police (crime) Gopal B Hosur rushed to the scene. The CCTV footage confirmed the robbers calmly spending almost 20 minutes inside.
How a homicide probe cracked the case
With few leads, Neelam Achutha Rao handed the case to the Central Crime Department (CCB). Whereas the CCTV footage supplied restricted visibility, know-how then was not superior sufficient to establish the culprits.
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In the meantime, the underworld in Mangaluru was lively. Simply days earlier than the heist, on July 30, 2007, Subba Rao—the proprietor of Mayur Builders and Promoters—was shot useless within the coastal metropolis.
Whereas the native police registered a homicide case, the Anti-Rowdy Squad was assigned the duty of nabbing the culprits. Then police inspector Jayanth Vasudev Shetty remembers how an informant tipped him off about Umesh Shetty’s doable involvement. Monitoring his cellphone revealed he had been in Mangaluru on the time of Subba Rao’s homicide—and in addition in Kammanahalli on the day of the heist.
Then police inspector Jayanth Vasudev Shetty is a recipient of the President’s medal, the chief minister’s gold medal, and the UN peacekeeping gold medal. In 2015 he retired as a superintendent of police and resides in Mangaluru. (Specific picture)
The undercover love entice
Regardless of linking Umesh Shetty to each crimes, finding him was robust—he had gone off the radar. Investigators found that his shut aide was a person named Prakash.
“We devised a dangerous plan,” remembers Jayanth. “A girl constable posed as somebody who had fallen in love with Prakash. Initially sceptical, he finally believed her and agreed to satisfy. When he did, we nabbed him.”
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Via Prakash, the police discovered of Umesh Shetty’s love for cricket and playing. They tracked him to a neighborhood match and nabbed him. “He was portrayed as an enormous don. However after we arrested him, he urinated in his pants,” Jayanth chuckled.
Plotting the heist in jail
Umesh’s arrest led to the restoration of 5 kg of gold saved in a fridge at a relative’s residence. The police additionally arrested Gopala Shetty, 26, Balakrishna Shetty, 40, and his spouse Hema, 30, in Chikkamagaluru, Nandish, 24, in Koppa, and Somegowda alias Naga, 31, in Hassan. They recovered a lot of the stolen gold.
However the true mastermind was Manish Shetty. Arrested in 2001 by the Maharashtra police, Manish had served time in Nashik jail, the place he befriended a number of criminals. After launch, he hatched the heist plan with two accomplices from Punjab. On September 4, 2007, he was arrested in a hideout in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu.
Aftermath and closing twist
The CCB finally arrested 17 individuals in reference to the heist, naming Manish Shetty because the prime accused. A chargesheet was filed, however all of the accused had been launched on bail. Shetty was freed in 2015 and reportedly reconnected with the underworld. His title surfaced in subsequent coastal crimes.
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On October 15, 2020, Manish Shetty, 41, was shot useless exterior Duet Bar and Restaurant—a sufferer of underworld rivalry.
Jayanth, who served in numerous ranks, is a recipient of the President’s medal, the chief minister’s gold medal, and the UN peacekeeping gold medal. In 2015 he retired as a superintendent of police and resides in Mangaluru.