Patna: Police have arrested four people in connection with a major theft at the residence of a retired Army colonel in PC Colony under Kankarbagh police station area, where valuables worth over Rs1 crore were stolen on March 6.City SP (East) Parichay Kumar said on Thursday that the arrested men have been identified as Sonu Kumar, Guddu Kumar, Aditya Kumar, a jeweller, and Jitu Sahni. “The arrests are linked not only to the theft at retired Colonel Janardan Prasad’s flat but also to three other theft cases registered in the area,” he said.Police recovered stolen articles from the accused, including a gold brick weighing 234.9 grams, gold jewellery weighing 40.3 grams, collectively valued at around Rs40 lakh, besides silver coins, a silver plate, a gold spoon, mangalsutra, earrings, luxury watches and four mobile phones. “Further raids are underway following leads provided by the nabbed men, and the role of 10 to 12 more persons is under investigation,” Kumar said.According to the SP, the gang had fled Patna after committing the thefts and travelled to other states, including Odisha. They returned a few days ago to attend a celebration and were subsequently arrested from their residences.A special investigation team (SIT) has been constituted under the leadership of Sadar SDPO Abhinav, with Kankarbagh SHO Abhay Kumar, Jakkanpur SHO Rituraj Kumar Singh and other officers from the Sadar division as members to investigate the case.Retired Colonel, who lives with his children in Bengaluru, owns the PC Colony property. His flat and those of his two tenants were targeted while the house was locked. The tenants — Avinash and Amit Kumar, both employed at Mahavir Arogya Sansthan — were away in their native villages at the time of the theft.Avinash, a resident of Hisua in Nawada district, knew about the theft upon returning home, finding his belongings scattered. From his flat alone, thieves allegedly decamped with jewellery worth around Rs70 lakh and Rs14 lakh in cash.The SP said the gang had targeted four to five houses in the Kankarbagh area in March. “Guddu conducted recce, while Sonu and Jitu, along with another associate, carried out the thefts. The accused have multiple cases registered against them at different police stations in Patna. Jeweller Aditya melted the stolen jewellery and sold the gold to bullion traders,” Kumar said.He added that efforts are on to trace the remaining suspects and recover more stolen property, with raids continuing.
