Patna, Jan 6 (IANS): The police have arrested six persons in Bihar's Begusarai in connection with stealing jewellery worth one crore rupees, an official said.

District Superintendent of Police (SP), Yogendra Kumar, said that one of the accused Krishna alias Vivek, a native of Bihar's Muzaffarpur used to live in Mumbai and would visit Bihar via flight every time to commit the crime and then escaped with the jewellery.

The other five accused have been identified as Laal Babu Chaudhary, Randhir Singh, Chotu Shah, Kanhaiya Kumar and Santosh Shah, all natives of Bihar's Samastipur district. The mastermind of this gang, Ravindra Sahni, is still absconding.

"We have conducted several teams headed by SDPO headquarter, Sadar, and others and managed to trace out the locations of three of the accused. We have managed to arrest three accused Krishna alias Vivek, Laal Babu Chaudhary and Chotu Shah. During the raid, we have also seized Rs 1.03 lakh, a country-made Katta, one kg ganja from their possession," the SP added.

"Based on the information of the accused, we have raided Samastipur and arrested a gold merchant Santosh Shah, Kanhaiya Kumar and Randhir Singh. We have also seized two loaded pistols, seven live cartridges, two mobile phones, cash and one bike which was used in the commission of the crime," he said.

The accused committed the crime on December 21 in Ratna Mandir Jewellers located at Har Har Mahadev Chowk in Begusarai.

"The accused posing as customers entered inside the jewellery shop and asked the employees to show them jewellery. They have looted jewellery worth one crore rupees. Till that time, one of the employees pressed the alarm button and one of the accused shot at him and fled from the spot," Kumar added.

"After committing the crime, all of them ran away through different routes and gathered at one place and handed over the jewellery to Ravindra Sahni, who had given Rs 1.5 lakh to them and also promised to distribute the looted cash after selling the jewellery. As per the plan, they were asked to go outside the state for a few days and as soon as the situation would normalise here, come and collect the money," he said.

"Ravindra Sahni is still absconding and we are making efforts to nab him. Krishna alias Vivek, who used to come from Mumbai via flight every time to commit robberies in Bihar. During interrogation, he revealed that he was involved in the loot of Rs 1 crore from Heera Jewellers a year ago. We have informed Samastipur police as well on that case," he added.