Mumbai: A jeweller from Mumbai has been arrested for faking an ornaments robbery on a train. Three of his associates have also been arrested. The case was cracked by the Railway Protection Force (RPF) of Bhusaval Division, Central Railway, within 72 hours of the complaint being lodged.
On September 30, Sagar Parekh (40), partner of a jewellery firm in Zaveri Bazaar, Mumbai, lodged a complaint that he had been robbed of 52 gold bangles and 35 gold rings weighing 1.5 kg on the 12187 Jabalpur-CSMT Garib Rath Express. The complaint was registered at the Government Railway Police (GRP) station, CSTM, Mumbai. The value of the jewellery was Rs 1.82 crore, Parekh claimed.
The case was later transferred to the GRP post at Khandwa on grounds of jurisdiction.
“A joint investigation team was constituted comprising officers from RPF Post Khandwa, the Crime Intelligence Branch, and RPF Bhusaval. The team made effective use of modern investigative tools such as CCTV footage analysis, digital tracking, mobile call data records (CDRs), and route mapping, to analyse the events that took place,” an official said.
“The investigation revealed that the alleged robbery was entirely fabricated and orchestrated by the complainant himself in connivance with his associates to mislead authorities and claim false losses. During interrogation, the accused confessed that they had deliberately injured themselves to lend credibility to their false narrative,” he added.
Parekh also confessed that the gold ornaments had been handed over to an accomplice named Praveen at Kalyan railway station. The said accomplice was summoned to RPF Post Khandwa, and the ornaments were recovered. The ornaments were documented and seized.
Apart from Parekh, those arrested were Sanjay Kumar (27), a resident of the Pali district of Rajasthan, Praveen Kumar (35), of Sirohi district, Rajasthan, and Rakesh Jain (53), a resident of Malabar Hills, Mumbai.
“The prompt action not only prevented a significant financial loss but also upheld the credibility of the RPF in handling complex, high-value cases with precision and efficiency,” the official added.
