Four persons were arrested in connection with looting a local jewellery businessman in Madhya Pradesh’s Jabalpur district and jewellery worth Rs 30 lakhs were recovered from the accused, a police official said on Friday.

According to the police, the accused had committed the crime by threatening the businessman, Om Prakash Soni (40) with a knife near the Tewar Talab area under Bhedaghat police station limits in the district on the night of May 11.

After that Soni informed the police about the matter, acting on the information, Bhedaghat police station in charge reached the spot. Soni told the police that he ran a jewellery shop in Panda Ki Madiya area in Garha. He closed his shop around 9 pm on May 11 and was going home on his bike.

He further told police that he had kept Rs 80,000 cash and jewellery in the luggage box of the bike. Around 9:45 pm, as soon as he reached near the Tevar Talab area, three persons on a bike hit him from behind and he fell down on the ground. He stood up to lift his bike but the accused started running away with his bike.

When the businessman tried to catch him, one of them attacked him with a knife and he got cut in his finger in the left hand. The accused snatched the bike and fled away along with jewellery and cash.

After that a team was formed and started investigating the matter. The team searched the CCTV footage and on the basis of it, the police arrested the accused. The police also recovered 305 grams of gold, 12 kg of silver jewellery worth Rs 30 lakh, Rs 50,000 cash and the motorcycle.

Jabalpur Superintendent of Police (SP), Tushar Kant Vidyarthi said that Om Prakash Soni’s acquaintance, Sanjay Soni had, who had a dispute with him, had conspired the loot by hiring the miscreants. The police arrested Sanjay Soni and other three accused, Shekhar Chaudhary, Karan Bhat and Vinay Sahni.