The Delhi Police arrested a 30-year-old man for stealing his fiancée’s jewellery, swapping her 1-kg gold bar with a fake, and using the money to buy property in Delhi and Uttarakhand.
The police said the accused, Nitesh Verma, a resident of Delhi’s Krishna Nagar, was tracked down at a hotel in Ghaziabad’s Kaushambi and arrested on Tuesday. The accused was engaged to the victim in February last year.
“Soon after their engagement, several jewellery items — including three gold sets, four diamond sets, bangles, rings, a kada, and gold and silver coins — went missing from her house. Verma was suspected but he denied any role, No evidence was found then against him,” said Nidhin Valsan, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central).
The officer continued by saying that the incident took a new turn in July this year when the woman entrusted him with one kg ancestral gold bar meant for their marriage expenses, he said.
“It was later found by her that the accused had deceitfully swapped it with a fake one. When confronted, he allegedly confessed and promised to return the value of the stolen gold and jewellery, but soon went into hiding, switching off his phone,” the DCP said.
Following the woman’s complaint, a case was filed at the DBG Road police station, and a special team was constituted to investigate the case.
“After analysing the call records, the absconding accused was traced to a hotel in Ghaziabad. He was arrested during a raid on Tuesday,” the DCP said.
During sustained interrogation, the accused confessed to have cut the gold bar into small pieces and sold them at different locations. With the proceeds, he purchased a Rs 42-lakh plot in Dehradun, gave around Rs 70 to 80 lakh to his parents, who in turn bought plots in Delhi and Uttarakhand, and acquired property in Haridwar and Mussoorie. He also splurged on luxury hotels in Mussoorie and Kerala, police said.
Verma, who studied till Class 10, claimed to be in the jewellery business.