Teen Staffer Nabbed After Fleeing With Rs 67 Lakh Gold Bars in Panvel

A 17-year-old employee who allegedly decamped with six gold bars worth Rs 67 lakh from a goldsmith shop in Zaveri Bazaar, Panvel, was apprehended from his hometown in Solapur district within 48 hours.

The incident took place on August 20 when his employer entrusted him with the gold bars to verify their purity at a nearby testing facility. Following the theft, a First Information Report (FIR) was registered at the Panvel City police station on August 21.

According to Bala Kumbhar, senior inspector of Panvel City police station, the complainant, 24-year-old Roshan Kolekar, handed over six gold bars weighing a total of 663.23 grams to the teenager. The staffer was instructed to take the consignment to Midas Hallmark Centre, located barely 100 metres away from Kolekar's store.

Kolekar stated that he trusted the minor employee, as the teenager had been working at the shop for the past eight months. In the past, he had routinely been assigned the task of taking gold to Midas Hallmark Centre for purity testing without any issues.

However, on August 20, the teenager failed to return to the shop after an unusually long time. Suspecting something was amiss, Kolekar attempted to reach him on his mobile phone, only to find the device switched off.

Kolekar then reached out to Swapnil Sawant, an employee at Midas Hallmark Centre, to check if the staffer had arrived with the consignment. After confirming that the teenager had never reached the testing centre, Kolekar approached the Panvel City police to lodge a formal complaint.

Acting on the complaint, the Panvel City police initiated a search and successfully tracked down the 17-year-old accused to his native place in Solapur district, apprehending him within two days of the theft.