Farid Hashmi, the key maker who is one of the accused, has revealed to the police that the craft has been passed to him by his ancestors since Mughal emperor Aurangzeb’s time.
When Mumbai Police recently cracked a sensational diamond heist case in which four people allegedly stole diamonds and cash worth crores from the lockers of a nationalised bank, they were amazed how the locksmith could remotely open a seven-lever locker which is practically impossible to get into even if one had physical access. In fact, duplication of these keys is so tough that if the original is lost, the manufacturer has to replace the lock. It turns out the skill had been honed for over 300 years.
Farid Hashmi, the key maker who is one of the accused, has revealed to the police that the craft has been passed to him by his ancestors since Mughal emperor Aurangzeb’s time.
As per police records, Hashmi, a resident of Bhayander, owns a key-making business along with other members of his joint family. Shamshuddin Azmi, one of the conspirators, knew about Hashmi’s key-making skills and approached him to make keys to the lockers.
The modus operandi was simple. Azmi, Ajay Mehta and Chandrasen Berde would visit the bank’s locker room with blank keys and press them into the locks so that scratches and indentations appear on them. These keys with indentations were provided to Hashmi who would make duplicates out of them.
Hashmi was paid Rs5,000 per key.
Officers say that Hashmi was straightforward in his dealings. “He would only be concerned with his money and would never ask the other accused why they were getting the keys made,” said a senior official from the crime branch.
The accused have confessed that in past three years they have opened nearly 14 lockers in the branch and have found diamonds from eight of them. A formal complaint was lodged with the police only in April last year by a diamond trader Mehulkumar Doshi at DB Marg police station. The complainant said that his diamonds worth Rs1.65 crore which were kept in the Opera House branch of a nationalised bank locker had gone missing.
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