GUWAHATI: The Special Task Force (STF) of Assam Police, in a thrilling operation planned by its chief DIGP Partha Sarathi Mahanta, on Friday recovered a large quantity of smuggled gold and cash, while arresting the smuggler and a buyer.
On the morning of July 14, the STF launched an operation based on secret input received regarding a covert deal pertaining to stolen gold articles that would take place in Guwahati. Shri Partha Sarathi Mahanta, IPS, DIGP, STF, Assam, Guwahati, planned out the operation and directed one STF team to carry out a search operation to detect and apprehend the miscreants involved in the covert deal.
Accordingly, the STF team carrying out the operation detected the target vehicle, one blue- coloured Hyundai i20 car, bearing registration no. ML 05/U 1216, at Khanapara. The vehicle was moving from the direction of Meghalaya towards Guwahati City.
The STF team tailed the target vehicle from Khanapara with the purpose of apprehending both the seller and the receiver of the smuggled gold. As the target vehicle reached Lalganesh locality, it stopped by the roadside and, after few minutes, one motorcyclist arrived near the target vehicle. Within a few moments, lasting about 4 to 5 seconds, both the suspect parties exchanged two packets between themselves, after which the motorcyclist sped away in the heavy traffic.
Thereafter, the STF team followed the target vehicle which was already moving towards the direction of Lokhra. Soon after, the STF team managed to intercept the target vehicle at Jyotikuchi area. The target vehicle was driven by a lone 56- year-old person by the name Sri Himanshu Paul, who was discovered to be a native of Meghalaya. During a search of his vehicle, one packet containing bundles of currency in the denominations of Rs. 500 and Rs 200 was found wrapped in a newspaper. As such, the recovered money to the tune of Rs. 22 Lakhs and 70 thousands were accordingly seized in the presence of witnesses.
During spot interrogation of the detained person Sri Himangshu Paul (56yrs), he stated that he is a resident of Shillong's Barapathar village under Jalupara Police Station in Meghalaya. Also that, his father is Late Sachidanand Paul. He also revealed that he had handed over the five pieces of illegally acquired gold bars to the motorcyclist he called by the name "G Marwari" a few moments earlier at Lalganesh in exchange of the bundles of cash found inside his vehicle.
Thereafter, the detained accused person Sri Himangshu Paul was made to lead the STF team to the other suspect G Marwari’s rented house at Arya Nagar, near Sharab-bhatti under the jurisdiction of Bharalumukh Police Station. During the search operation carried out at the suspect G Marwari's rented house, in the presence of independent witnesses, the STF team recovered the gold from his house.
The actual identify of the detained suspect G Marwari was revealed as Sri Kishan Kanwar Kadel, aged 36 years, son of Sri Jagdish Prasad, an inhabitant of the village of Bidasar, PS - Bidasar, Dist - Churu, of the state of Rajasthan. When the STF team arrived at the suspect Sri Kishan Kanwar Kadel's rental house, he was already in the process of melting the five pieces of gold bars in a Gold smelting electric machine. The STF team retrieved the gold from the machine and had seized it accordingly, in the presence of witnesses.
The weight of the seized gold is 585 grams with a market value of approximately Rs. 34 Lakhs. Moreover, the Hero Honda Karizma motorcycle bearing registration no. AS 01/AM 2548, which was used in the crime, was also recovered by the team and seized accordingly.
In a nutshell, the STF team apprehended both the accused persons involved in illegal gold business and had seized a 585 grams gold metal, cash money of Rs. 22 Lakh and 70 Thousand, one Hyundai i20 car, one Hero Honda Karizma motorcycle, one Gold Smelting electric machine, along with other related articles and four mobile phones. In this regard, a case vide STF PS Case no. 07/2023 u/s 379/411 IPC has been registered and investigation of the case is in progress.
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