Bhubaneswar: The Saheed Nagar police on Sunday arrested two men, including a Kolkata‑based jeweller, in connection with the recent theft of a gold bracelet from an upscale jewellery store in Bhubaneswar.Police identified the accused as Sanjay Gupta (45) and Dinesh Thakkar (63). Thakkar, who is originally from Gujarat and resides at Raipur in Chhattisgarh, allegedly stole the bracelet worth around Rs 3 lakh from a store inside a plush shopping mall on July 1.Police investigators said they made a breakthrough after learning of Thakkar’s arrest in Rourkela on July 3 for a similar jewellery theft in Uditnagar police station limits last month. Though the city police secured his remand in connection with the Saheed Nagar case, he was granted bail in the Uditnagar case on July 10. As he was about to walk free, Bhubaneswar police detained him the same day.“During interrogation, Thakkar admitted to stealing the bracelet from the shopping mall. He revealed that he sold it to Gupta, a jeweller in Kolkata. Based on his statement, we arrested Gupta and recovered some stolen ornaments from him. Both were remanded to judicial custody on Sunday,” said ACP (zone‑V) Biswa Ranjan Senapati.Police described Thakkar as a habitual ‘jewel thief’.“He has earlier been arrested in two cases in Gujarat and two in Maharashtra,” ACP Senapati added.In the Bhubaneswar case, Thakkar allegedly posed as a customer, visiting the store multiple times before diverting staff attention and walking away with the bracelet.
