Pimpri police hunt showroom employee accused of stealing 39 gold chains
Pimpri police are hunting a showroom employee accused of slipping out with 39 gold chains worth 34 lakh after distracting the owner and clearing display trays.
The theft was not a smash-and-grab. It was a showroom breach, carried out from inside the sales floor, and that is what makes it so unsettling for gold buyers and jewellers alike.
Pimpri police have launched a manhunt after a jewellery showroom employee allegedly walked off with 39 gold chains worth about 34 lakh on May 22. The complaint was filed by a 53-year-old jeweller after he noticed empty display trays and checked CCTV footage, which allegedly showed the employee taking the chains. Police said the suspect had worked at the showroom for the past few years and, on the morning of the theft, distracted the owner before removing the stock.
The case cuts straight to the weak point in many gold retail businesses: trust built into daily handling. A display tray may look orderly to a customer, but it also depends on strict inventory counts, limited staff access and a clear record of who moved each piece and when. Here, police said the suspect’s cellphone has been switched off, and his house in Nehrunagar, Pimpri, was found locked when officers visited. The disappearance of both the worker and the stock turned a routine sales counter into a crime scene.
For jewellers, the loss is not only about the value of the chains. It is about the confidence that every necklace in a tray can be traced back to a bill, a parcel and a handover. For buyers, that confidence matters just as much. Gold purchases rest on authenticity, weight and documentation, and a showroom that cannot tightly control its own inventory raises questions about how carefully it manages the pieces that leave with customers.
The alleged theft also fits a troubling pattern in Pimpri-Chinchwad. In a separate case in March 2024, police registered a complaint after an employee allegedly stole jewellery worth more than 12 lakh from a Pimpri shop. Police said that accused had worked there for four years and had been promoted to manager before the theft. That case was booked under IPC Section 381, the section dealing with theft by a clerk or servant from property in the possession of a master, underlining how seriously the law treats insider theft in jewellery businesses.
For the gold trade, the warning is plain: the biggest risk is not always outside the glass. It can be the person standing closest to the tray.
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