Panvel robbery: Culprits continue to remain at large

Three months on, the police continue to remain clueless about the whereabouts of the culprist who robbed a jeweller of 1.05kg gold and Rs1.5 lakh in cash near Panvel railway station.

Arvind Punmiya, 44, a resident of Bhandup, had come to Panvel to take orders from local jewellers with some sample jewellery in his bag on January 7. After finishing his work, he was returning home with the jewellery and the cash around 9.45pm when the culprits attacked him.

"Punmiya was about to reach the platform, when he was surrounded by three unidentified persons who came on a two-wheeler outside the station premises. They asked him to handover the bag containing jewellery and cash by flashing a revolver and a chopper. When the victim refused to act accordingly, the accused threw chilli powder on his face and then snatched the bag from his hand," said SB Suryavanshi, assistant commissioner of police.

As Punmiya started shouting for help, a few auto drivers came forward to arrest the culprits. "The culprits did not get a chance to start their two-wheeler and fled the spot, leaving behind the vehicle. When the victim and the auto drivers followed them, the culprits fired in the air to scare them and then ran away taking advantage of darkness," the officer added.

There was no closed-circuit cameras installed at the spot where the robbery took place. "We seized the vehicle abandoned at the spot of the crime. That two-wheeler was used to in a chain-snatching incident in Thane around a month ago. However, it was later learnt that the registration number of that bike was fake," said a police inspector from Panvel city police station.

"Both the crime branch of Navi Mumbai and local police of Panvel are investigating the case. We have received certain leads in the case, but we will need some more time to get confirmed reports about the culprits. We hope the case gets solved soon," the officer said.