Friend among 7 held for robbing K’ghar bizman of Rs 41L gold

George MendoncaNavi Mumbai:After a two-week investigation, the Kharghar Police cracked the April 24 robbery case in which businessman Sushant More (41) was robbed of 570 grams of gold ornaments worth Rs 40.6 lakh near his residence in Sector 12, Kharghar.Police arrested seven accused, including More's friend Abhinandan Mali (37) from Sangli, who allegedly masterminded the robbery. Four police teams from Kharghar, Kamothe, Kalamboli and Taloja were formed for the probe.DCP Prashant Mohite said Mali conspired with his wife Komal (26) from Sangli and her brother Vaibhav Mali (24) from Satara to plan the robbery. They allegedly arranged three robbers and an aide, shared More's photograph and informed them that he would be returning from a hotel in Belapur after dinner.On April 24, around 12.30am, three men allegedly attacked More outside Shivam Society in Kharghar. One accused slashed his forearm with a knife before the gang fled with a bag containing gold ornaments. More's chauffeur Mahesh Hatey and Abhinandan Mali, who were with him, were also assaulted when they tried to resist."Call data records revealed Abhinandan Mali's role in planning the robbery with his wife and brother-in-law, who arranged robbers from Satara," DCP Mohite said.Police arrested Abhinandan, Komal and Vaibhav on April 27. Using mobile dump data, technical analysis and CCTV footage from toll plazas, investigators tracked and arrested Shubham Dhanaji Patole (20) and Sandeep Krishnadev Gujanle (20), both from Datewadi in Satara district, from Vaduj on April 28.The remaining accused — Harshad Ramesh Sagare (25) from Visapur in Sangli and Rahul alias Amit Rajendra Mali (23) from Tasgaon in Sangli — allegedly evaded arrest.A team led by API Sharad Barkade tracked and arrested them from Tavshi in Pandharpur on May 7."We recovered the 570 grams of stolen gold ornaments, a knife, a fake pistol used in the crime, along with the car and bike used by the accused," said DCP Mohite.