Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru (MS)

Bengaluru, Mar 26: The robberies carried out by this gang is not less than any Hollywood movie story. A man, who failed in grade eight, watched Hollywood movies having robbery in their storyline, built a gang and looted jewellery shops for more than eight years. He also used procured bullet proof jackets from China and Maharashtra for the safety of self and his gang members. At last, the gang is arrested by the Bengaluru police.

This gang fell into the dragnet of the police who were trying to unearth the dacoity that took place on February 19, 2018 at Chemmannur Jewellers which is situated at Rajajinagar first block. Police of Subramanya and Mahalakshmi Lay Out police stations have arrested four person including two sons of an astrologer.

The arrested culprits are Samrat Shiv (30) and Shankar (26), residents of Kothanur and sons of an astrologer, Nivesh Kumar (26) and Jagadish (34), a resident of Sangli in Maharashtra. With the arrest of these four people, Karnataka police have unearthed jewellery dacoity cases that were a challenge to them since eight long years.

The accused have looted around eight kilograms of gold so far. Police have recovered one kilo of gold, which is valued at Rs 45 lac from the arrested persons.

The saga started in 2011

Brothers and sons of an astrologer, Shiv, who failed in grade eight and Shankar, who is a Bcom graduate, looted Santosh Jewellers of Ramamurthynagar in 2011 as their first act of robbery. Subsequently, they continued their looting spree and burgled eight kilograms of gold from the Peenya and Subramanyanagar showrooms of Chemmannur Jewellers.

On July 1, 2017, they stabbed the security guard, snatched his rifle and looted 600 grams of golden ornaments from the Chemmannur Jewellers showroom at Chikballapur and made good their escape.

Inspiration from Hollywood movies

The preparation made by the gang for looting the jewellery showrooms and the expertise shown by the police to catch them is not less than any Hollywood thriller. Shivu, who was a grade eight dropout, suddenly thought of making money bigtime and dacoity was the only way that came to his mind at that time. He built a high-tech gang for this purpose. He continuously watched Hollywood movies having stories of robbery and dacoity and continued his act unabated for six years.

This gang looted eight kilograms of gold in 2011-12 in three different robberies. They had a lavish lifestyle and enjoyed to the core. Only when they ran out of money of that loot, they got down to dacoity once again in 2017 and accordingly attempted to rob Chemmannur Jewellery on February 19, 2018.

Three Bengalureans in the gang

Except for Jagadish, who is from Sangli, all others of the four-member gang are natives of Bengaluru. Jagadish was dealing in gold and silver in Chennai. Samrat Shiv used to go to Sri Lanka in order to sell the looted gold. He got in touch with Jagadish during one of the visits to Sri Lanka. He joined Shiv's gang assuring of getting the looted gold sold in Chennai itself.

Nivesh Kumar was a facility manager with HP Inc company at Whitefield. He got fascinated by the methodology used by the brothers in looting the jewellery shops and joined the gang after resigning from his job.

Bulletproof jacket from China

Brothers Shiv and Shankar, who carried out dacoity continuously for three years, took a break of four years. However, they did not stop studying about methods and techniques employed in dacoity. They also collected information about the technology and equipment used in high-tech dacoity.

They learnt about replacing their techniques, which they used till 2012 in conducting dacoity. They learnt about using petrol bomb in place of pepper spray, country rifle in place of the iron rod and using bulletproof jacket instead of a leather jerkin. They also learnt to manufacture petrol bombs from the internet.

The gang procured country-made guns from Uttar Pradesh. They bought local bulletproof jackets that are manufactured in Maharashtra. Shankar went to China to buy bulletproof jackets. He had booked three bulletproof jackets saying that he is starting a security guard agency. The jackets reached them by courier.

Shankar wanted to be an IAS officer

Shankar, brother of Shiv dreamt of becoming an IAS officer. He had joined a reputed institute for coaching in order to write the UPSC examination. Shiv used to finance him for his studies. Once there was a skirmish between the brothers during which Shankar told Shiv that he will not cooperate in dacoity. This made Shiv take Jagadish and Nivesh in his gang

Sketch for robbery

Samrat Shiv alone used to make a study of the surroundings of the jewellery shop. He used to concentrate more on the escape routes during his study of the location. On the day of the dacoity, the gang used to park their car nearly two to three kilometers away from the showroom, where the CCTV surveillance is not there.

Then the accused used to wear helmet, jacket and gloves and approach the showroom in bikes stolen from other states. They used to park their bikes nearly 300 meters away from the showroom. The gang used to walk to the showroom and attack the security guards suddenly and loot as much gold as possible by hands. If anyone used to chase them, they threw petrol bombs on them.

As the public used to run due to the smoke and sound generated by the petrol bomb, the gang used to sit on bikes and reach the destination where they have parked their car and made good their escape.

Luxurious lifestyle

Samrat Shiv had the craze of living an extravagant lifestyle. He had bought Toyota Fortuner and Hyundai I 20 cars. He had opened a real estate business in the name of RS at Yelahanka. However, as the business did not yield intended returns, he decided to get back to dacoity.

Father of duo brothers involved?

Krishnappa, father of brothers Shiv and Shankar was an astrolger. He used to go to Sri Lanka also for his astrology related work. So the brothers got to know Sri Lanka right from their childhood. They used to wear permitted weight of gold on their body and used to sell the gold in Sri Lanka. Police are investigating whether the father is involved in the act of his sons.

Police have recovered more than 500 movies of different languages which were based on stories of dacoity and robbery from the pen drive and laptops of the accused. The accused used to learn how to carry out the act and also escape from the security guarding the place.

Used to carry currency in Dollars

Samrat Shiv used to convert the currency into Dollars after selling the gold and thereby escaped the eagle eyes of the customs officials.

Once he was caught in Chennai airport for possessing Rs 20 lac in cash, which he got after selling the gold. He paid Rs 10 lac bribe to the custom officials and made good his escape.

Police team rewarded

Four teams were formed under the leadership of inspectors Mahendra Kumar and Jayanna Reddy. These teams made several plans and used numerous techniques and arrested the culprits near Devanahalli railway track. Police commissioner Sunil Kumar has declared reward for these teams.