Man who escaped with 6.2 kg gold arrested in Pune

The main accused, Rahul Gautam Ghate (21) of Maharashtra, escaped with the gold bars on March 25 and his friends were identified as Ellappa Anumanth Pawar and Prakash Ashok, also hailing from Maharashtra. A special team camped in Maharastra for about 10 days and nabbed the suspects, the police said.

The gold belongs to Sukash Patankar of Sowcarpet, who runs a gold smithy named Kalash Gold on Anumantharayan Koil Street. The police said that Rahul Gautam started working in the smithy just 10 days before the theft took place. “Sukash gave Rahul the gold bars to polish, but Rahul, who went out with the bars, never returned,” the police added.

Sukash collected CCTV footage of Rahul escaping with the gold jewels from the locality and handed it over to the police. “As Sukash and Rahul hail from Solapur in Maharastra, Sukash enquired with his relatives and after confirming that he came to the town, he lodged a complaint on March 29,” the police said.

Based on his complaint, a special team rushed to Solapur. But Rahul had already fled the town with two others. The police located them in Pune with the help of mobile phone towers and arrested them.

Rahul was allegedly under the impression that once he escaped from Chennai, the police will not be able to trace him. “He sold some of the bars to a jeweller in Pune, which was recovered. Further inquiry is on to ascertain the whereabouts of remaining 3.6 kg gold bars,” added the police.