Udaipur Police Arrest Three Suspects in ₹1.8 Crore Jewellery Heist

Three men from Vijaypur in Chittorgarh district were arrested on March 30 in connection with the theft of roughly 100 kg of silver and 200 grams of gold from Mohit Jewellers in Kurabad's Sadar Bazaar, a heist valued at approximately ₹1.8 crore that unfolded just 150 metres from the Kurabad police station.

Udaipur's Superintendent of Police Dr Amrita Duhan identified the arrested suspects as Shiva alias Shivalal Kanjar, Kalulal Kanjar, and Mahendra Kanjar. Their combined criminal record is considerable: Mahendra alone carries 16 registered cases of theft and burglary, Kalulal 8, and Shiva 5. Three further accomplices, named as Arjun, Ramchandra, and Kundan, remain absconding. All three arrested suspects belong to the Kanjar community, a semi-nomadic group designated a criminal tribe under the British Criminal Tribes Act of 1871 and subjected to systematic surveillance and restrictions. India denotified such designations after Independence, though members continue to face systemic discrimination and remain heavily flagged in police records.

The theft, carried out on the night of March 15, bore the hallmarks of deliberate planning. According to local traders, the gang spent two to three hours reconnoitring the surrounding lanes before striking. A critical enabling factor: tenants living on the first floor above the shop had been absent since March 11, giving the gang a four-day window with no upstairs presence. The thieves worked methodically to eliminate evidence, physically breaking the CCTV cameras and removing the DVR before loading the silver and gold into sacks and fleeing. What ultimately undid them was footage from a neighbouring shop, which captured approximately six masked men moving through the lane with sharp weapons.

Police recovered roughly 30 kg of the stolen silver during the operation. Multiple investigative teams tracked suspect movement through highway and market CCTV, linking the arrested trio to a gang operating across neighbouring districts. DSP Gopal Chandel and SHO Teju Singh were the first senior officers at the scene, initiating the probe that led to the March 30 arrests.

Shop owner Ashok Soni, who commutes daily from Udaipur city to Kurabad, said the gang had operated without hesitation, remarking that criminals "no longer seem to be afraid of the police." Local traders extended that criticism directly to the question of night patrol coverage in the lanes immediately surrounding the police station itself.

The arrests were announced by Dr Duhan, who took charge in March 2026 as Udaipur's first-ever woman Superintendent of Police. A doctor-turned-IPS officer from Rohtak, Haryana, she holds an MBBS, an MD in Pathology, and a DNB, having entered the Indian Police Service through the UPSC. Previous postings in Pratapgarh, Jodhpur, and Kota saw her target networks linked to gangster Lawrence Bishnoi and pioneer a student-safety helpline later adopted across multiple cities. Her nickname, "Lady Singham," has followed her to a district that carries compounded policing challenges as both a major tourist hub and a tribal region.

The official ₹1.8 crore valuation may itself be conservative. Silver in India is currently trading at approximately ₹2,50,000 per kilogram; 100 kg alone would carry a market value closer to ₹2.5 crore at current rates. With the bulk of the haul still unrecovered and three suspects at large, the investigation remains open.