An employee of a jewellery shop in Mahim attacked its 78-year-old owner, tied him up, gagged him and fled with 3kg gold, 1kg silver, collectively worth ₹84.63 lakh, and ₹3.14 lakh in cash on Thursday.

Bhansimal Jain, the owner of Abhishek Jewellers on the ground floor of Pushpa Kunj building at Mori Road, partially closed the shutter of the shop around 2.30pm to have lunch. “Two employees worked in the shop, but one of them, who has been working with them for 17 years, was on leave. Jain’s son, Abhishek, too, was out of town. Finding Jain alone, Naresh Kumar decided to attack him,” said Ajinath Satpute, assistant commissioner of police, Mahim police station.

He had an accomplice (who is yet to be identified) standing guard outside, said police. Once Jain was tied to the chair, Kumar called the accomplice and the two put the valuables in a bag and fled.

In the meanwhile, Jain fell unconscious. Once he regained consciousness around 3pm, he managed to crawl out, after which passers-by untied him and informed the police. Jain was rushed to Bhabha Hospital, as he suffers from a heart condition. “We are trying to trace Kumar,” said Satpute.

Sources said the owners didn’t verify the background of the accused, as he was referred to them by the owner of the neighbouring shop. He started to work at the shop eight months ago.

“Naresh Kumar worked at my shop for seven days. He didn’t know much about hardware material, as he had worked at a showroom in the past. Jain had asked me if I knew of someone, so I suggested Kumar’s name,” said Harsan Purohit, the owner of the electric hardware shop next to the jewellery store.

Kumar is a native of Jalor in Rajasthan. Kumar and the other employee used to stay in Ghatkopar at a flat given by the jeweller and used to travel together daily.

On checking the CCTV footage from the shop, police found the accused had removed the recording tape. The police are now scanning the CCTV footage from the area. The Mahim police are in the process of registering a case of robbery.

Satpute said they have informed Abhishek who will reach Mumbai later at night.

First Published: May 03, 2019 00:34 IST