Surat police have arrested a woman and her husband in connection with the theft of gold and diamond-studded jewellery worth over Rs 2 crore from a well-known jewellery showroom in the city.
The accused allegedly executed the crime over several months, with the stolen ornaments later being sold through a separate jewellery outlet owned by the husband.
The main accused, Khushbu Kansara, had been working as a saleswoman at Surbhi Jewellers, a showroom located on the ground floor of an apartment complex on Ghod Dod Road. The business is run by Surbhi Shah and her husband Rakesh Shah, and employs 14 staff members. Khushbu joined the store in January 2024 with a monthly salary of Rs 15,000 and was eventually entrusted with managing the inventory.
According to Umra police, Khushbu systematically removed jewellery items from the showroom over the past year and secretly kept them at her residence. Meanwhile, her husband, Manoj Kansara, opened a new jewellery store named Shyam in Bhatar in mid-2024, where the stolen pieces were reportedly displayed and sold to customers.
The theft went unnoticed until early September, when the Shah couple was away on a business trip to Jamshedpur. During their absence, another employee, Karina Singhvi, noticed suspicious activity in the CCTV recordings. The footage appeared to show Khushbu taking ornaments from the store without authorization. Karina immediately reported the matter to Surbhi, who asked her to wait until she returned to the city.
Upon returning on September 8, Surbhi and her husband confronted Khushbu and Manoj at the showroom, asking them to explain the footage and the discrepancies in the stock register. The couple denied any wrongdoing, but a subsequent inspection of the showroom’s inventory confirmed that several valuable items were missing.
Later that day, the Shahs visited Shyam, the jewellery store run by Manoj, and identified multiple ornaments with tags that matched their own showroom’s branding. Realizing the extent of the theft, they promptly informed Umra police.
Police registered a case under Section 306(3) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, which pertains to theft by a servant or clerk. The couple was taken into custody that same evening.
Inspector J.A. Rathwa told a national daily that Khushbu systematically passed on stolen ornaments to her husband, who then sold them at his own shop.
Police was quoted saying they have recovered a portion of the jewellery—some had already been sold, and others were hidden. The investigation is ongoing and police remand will be sought for further questioning.
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