Rajkot: Woman held for Rs 1.48 crore jewellery loot, 2 on run

RAJKOT: A 40-year-old woman was arrested on Sunday in connection with the loot of jewellery worth Rs 1.48 crore from the manager of a jewellery showroom on Saturday.
However, while the police have Bilkis Motani in their custody, they have issued a lookout notice for her father Hanif Sodha and her 16-year-old son who were allegedly accomplices in the loot.
Assistant commissioner of police (ACP), West, Pramod Deora said that they have recovered the looted jewellery from Bilkis’s possession. These include gold jewellery weighing 1,808grams and worth Rs 97.37 lakh. The jewellery included five complete sets, 12 bangles, three chains, four rings and two mangalsutras. The diamond jewellery weighed 357gm and is worth Rs 51 lakh, cops said.
According to case details, Bilkis’s husband Yakub was lodged in Rajkot central jail after he was convicted of murder. Bilkis and her minor son were also accused in the case but were acquitted.
The police said that Bilkis was in talks for a compromise with the kin of the deceased. However, she was short of money and hence, planned the loot.
On Friday morning, Bilkis called up the jewellery store, where she is a regular customer and asked for trials at home. The store manager, Vishal Shukla agreed and reached Bilkis’s house the next day along with his assistant.
While Shukla was sitting in the drawing room, Bilkis took the jewellery inside for trial to her bedroom. However, a few minutes later Bilkis’s minor son and her father Hanif Sodha started a fight with Vishal and pushed him and his assistant out of the house. Before Shukla could understand what was happening, Bilkis came out of the house and got into her SUV car along with her father and son and the trio drove off.