Hyderabad Police Commissioner A K Mohanty was informed on Thursday by his Mumbai counterpart that three people were taken into custody. It was, however, not immediately clear whether the jewellery was also recovered. 

Police in neighbouring states were alerted after burglars broke into a showroom of the Dubai-based Joy Alukkas Group in the high security Panjagutta commercial hub on Tuesday night and made off with gold and jewellery. 

The looted property was initially estimated to be worth Rs.90 million. However, after verifying the records and a detailed assessment, the shop management told police that jewellery worth Rs.60 million was missing. The weight of the stolen property is estimated at 40 kg. 

Earlier, Home Minister K Jana Reddy blamed the management for not providing foolproof security on the premises. 

A high-level meeting called by him noted that nine out of 12 closed circuit TVs in the shop were not working. Other security equipment along with security guards also did not function effectively. 

Four special teams were constituted to hunt for the culprits

Jewellery worth millions stolen in Hyderabad
Tuesday, May 16, 2006
Hyderabad, May 16
Jewellery worth over Rs 10 crore was stolen from a showroom in a posh locality here. The showroom named Joy Alukkas, located in downtown Panjagutta area, was inaugurated only in March last. 

According to A.K. Mohanty, Police Commissioner, Hyderabad, the burglars broke open the shutters and stole diamonds and gold jewellery worth crores. He, however, said that the exact value has not been ascertained as yet. He also said that investigations were under way. 

DCP Amit Garg said that the burglars appeared to have made it to the top floor of the showroom around Monday midnight taking advantage of the construction activity going around the surrounding buildings. 

The Alukkas showroom is located just 100 metres from the residence of the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister on one side, and the Punjagutta police station on another, and has a large police presence. Police is not ruling out the role of any insiders of the showroom. 

The four-floor showroom in Hyderabad is Alukkas’ 61st retail outlet.