A day after the city's biggest- ever heist of Rs 14 crore at a jewellery shop located in the main commercial complex, police are still hunting for clues to solve the robbery in which two men and a woman are involved.
"We are investigating the case. There is no breakthrough yet. At the moment we have nothing more to say beyond this," Chandigarh Police DSP (Central) Satish Kumar told PTI today.
The trio took less than 20 minutes to decamp with diamond and gold ornaments worth over Rs 14 crore and also took away the DVD recorder of the CCTV cameras installed at the showroom located in Sector 17-C in the heart of the city.
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Besides, the accused, who were in their mid 20s, had locked up owners of the shop, 'Forever Diamonds', in a room at gunpoint yesterday afternoon, police said.
The robbers, who took less than 20 minutes to execute the crime, arrived before the jewellery and ornaments were put up for display and were still in the strong room, making it easy for them to carry the booty.
Another senior police official said they were working on the case and at the moment cannot say how soon they will be able to crack it.
"There is no breakthrough yet. We are working on the case," Sector 17's Station House Officer Uday Pal Singh said.
The shop owners, Vinod Verma and Rajnish Verma, had earlier told the police that they were at the shop along with an employee Ajay when the robbers arrived.
The shop owners said they did not suspect anything when the accused came as one of them had ordered a diamond ring worth Rs 3 lakh a day ago, police said.
Rajnish said the youth, who had placed the ring order,
yesterday claimed that the piece of jewellery was tight, after which the worker was sent to a market in Sector 35 to get the necessary changes made.
The youth then asked to see a ring for the woman accompanying him, Rajnish said, adding that later he went to the strong room in the shop's cabin to pick out a ring and one youth followed him.
The other accused placed a gun on Vinod's head and brought him inside the strong room. He gave them a bag to put all valuables, they said.
The owners stated that the robbers packed the bag with several diamond ornaments, including rings, chains, ear rings and bracelets, and fled after locking the cabin, police said.
The owners managed to come out after smashing the glass door using a fire extinguisher. Subsequently, the police was informed.
Police said the jewellery shop did not have any security guard for the last three years and added that they were quizzing the staff members.
The DVD recorder of CCTV cameras installed inside and outside the showroom were also taken away by the accused. Footage from CCTV cameras installed at nearby shops was being screened, they said.
A case under various sections of the IPC, including for robbery, and under the provisions of the Arms Act has been registered against unidentified accused at the Sector 17 police station.
Sketches of the accused have also been prepared. One of the accused was dressed like an NRI and had spiky hair, the other youth was sporting a small beard while the woman was dressed in a traditional Indian suit.
