The forensic team (FSL) at Udaipur have confirmed that there was no break in at the jewelry shop at Ghantaghar and there was no presence of any person in the shop for years now.

This report was submitted at the behest of the police after the owners of Parmatma Jewelers at Ghantaghar lodged an FIR against unknown persons of having committed a theft of jewelry worth Rs 5.5 crore on 10 June 2020.  Parmatma Jewelers is located opposite the Ghantaghar police station and the FIR was registered by the owners of the shop, which has been shut for nearly 14 years following a court order subsequent to a dispute between the partners.

The FLS report as per Abhay Pratap Singh, Senior Scientific Officer, FSL, Udaipur, says that there is no proof or even an indication that there was any theft in the shop in recent times as there is no evidence of presence of any person in the shop for years.

SHO, Ghantaghar police station, Bhavan Singh said that though the FSL report confirms that there has been no theft, the police are still investigating and interrogating the old employees of the shop, along with neighboring shops.  Police are suspecting foul play as far as lodging the FIR is concerned and investigations have turned in that direction.

Police have also interrogated the man who was shown picking up a chair and a piece of glass from the floor above the shop in a video, based on which the FIR of theft was lodged by the partners.  It is important to note that the video if is dated 10 days before the FIR was lodged.  No evidence of theft or involvement of the man seen in the video has been registered by the police.

Background

Asha Mehta and Manohar Mehta of Udaipur and Arun Mehta of Kota, who are partners in Parmatma Jewellers, had lodged an FIR on 10 June with the Ghantaghar police station. The FIR stated that a theft of jewelry with a current market value of Rs 5.5 crore was committed in their shop by the above name.  This shop has been sealed as per court orders for the last 14 years following a dispute between the partners. As per the FIR, at the time the shop was sealed, jewelry to the tune of 10kg of gold and 11kilo silver was there in the shop. On 8 June, a member of the Jewelry market association sent a video to the owners of Parmatma Jewelers, which showed a man carrying away a chair and a piece of glass from the terrace of the shop. The video suggested that a theft was in order.  The owners lodged a case and appealed to the court to have the shop opened.  When the shop was opened, it was empty and no jewelry was found.

Though the FIR says that the theft was conducted recently, the FSL team, as per Abhay Kumar Singh, found no evidence of any entry into the shop. No fingerprints or footprints were found on investigation by the FSL team. When water from the basement was emptied, it was found that the jewelry boxes as well as the showcase, were untouched. There was no trace of any breakin.