NGO chief-led gang loots Rs 7 cr during lockdown, held

Mumbai, April 28

The chief of an NGO, who got permission to move around during the Covid-19 lockdown to distribute food, has been arrested for allegedly assembling a gang and robbing a jewellery store in Andheri, Mumbai, of ornaments worth Rs 7 crore, police said on Tuesday.

Vipul Ananda Chambriya (35), president of the city- based Ekta Foundation, was arrested along with six others on Monday, said Zone X Deputy Commissioner of Police Ankit Goel. Loot worth Rs 5.30 crore has also been recovered from them.

“On April 22, amid the lockdown, Rajkumar Luthra filed a complaint that his jewellery shop had been broken into through the roof using a gas cutter, and ornaments worth Rs 7 crore were stolen,” an MIDC police station official said.

“Three teams were made and after interrogating several people who may have been in the vicinity, we zeroed in on Chambriya. He had the permission to distribute food to the needy during the lockdown. After collecting information about the shop, he brought in six accomplices, including four who work in his NGO, and robbed the shop,” he added.

The MIDC police official identified the others, who have been arrested, as shop stockholder Desman Chotalal Chohan, security guard Munna Khairwar, and Chambriya’s NGO staff Laxman Narsappa Dandu, Shankar Kumar Yeshu, Rajesh Marpakka and VIkas Chanwadi. PTI