Jeweller jumps to death in Nashik while being grilled by Cyberabad cops

NASHIK/HYDERABAD: A jeweller from Nashik ended his life by jumping to death from the fourth floor of a government guesthouse where he was being questioned by Cyberabad police in relation to purchase of stolen gold on Tuesday.
A team of Cyberabad police along with their counterparts from Mahbubnagar of Telanagana and Guntur of Andhra Pradesh, went to Nashik on Monday to question jeweller, Vijay Birare, about allegedly purchasing stolen gold from a burglar Santosh alias Prakash Shinde Shinde.
Cyberabad police launched a man hunt for Shinde and Shamshabad police arrested him on 15, February after they found his finger prints at a crime scene.
“Shinde was involved in burglaries since late 1990s and was imprisoned also. However Shinde managed to procure a bogus death certificate to close all his pending cases in different cities,” a police official from Nashik said.
Cyberabad commissioner VC Sajjanar said that Shinde is an accused in 24 night burglary cases registered in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
“After his arrest, Shinde confessed that he disposed over two kilos of stolen gold with Vijay Birare and our team went to Nashik with Shinde to recover the stolen property from Vijay. When he was being questioned at a government guest house in Nashik, Vijay made an excuse saying that he had to drink water and committed suicide by jumping from the building,” Cyberabad commissioner said.
While the Cyberabad police told their Nashik counterparts that the jeweller ended his life, his family members accused that police excesses led to his death.
“We apprehend that the victim could have managed to give the Cyberabad police team a slip at the guest house and jumped from the fourth floor to end his life,” said Nashik police sources.
The bereaved family and relatives of the jeweller created a ruckus at Nashik Civil Hospital refusing the authorities to carry out the autopsy. They demanded that Cyberabad police should be booked for Vijay Birare’s death.
Nashik police commissioner, Vishwas Nangare Patil met the bereaved family and assured them of a fair probe into the death.
“The case has been handed over to the state Crime Investigation Department for investigation as victim had died under Cyberabad police detention,” the Nashik city police commissioner told TOI.