The Chhattisgarh Police has arrested two people in connection with a Rs 20-crore burglary from a jewellery store in New Delhi earlier this week and recovered around 18.5 kg of gold and diamond ornaments from them.

A joint team of officials from the anti-crime and cyber unit and the Civil Line police station in Bilaspur district carried out the operation while probing a series of thefts in Bilaspur city, Superintendent of Police Santosh Singh said

Those arrested have been identified as Lokesh Srivas, who is allegedly involved in seven thefts in Bilaspur, and Shiva Chandravanshi, he said.  Acting on a tip-off about Srivas being present in Kawardha town of Chhattisgarh’s Kabirdham district, the team conducted a raid there on Wednesday and arrested Chandravanshi along with ornaments worth Rs 23 lakh, he said. By that time, Srivas had managed to escape, the SP said.

The team then tracked down Srivas to a house under the Smritinagar police station jurisdiction in Durg district and recovered 18.5 kg of gold and diamond jewellery and Rs 12.5 lakh in cash from him, Singh said.

Investigation revealed that the jewellery was stolen from a store in New Delhi, he said, adding a team of the Delhi police has also arrived in Chhattisgarh and further investigation into the matter is underway.  Multiple teams were formed to work out the case and to effect the recovery. Hundreds of CCTV cameras were examined which revealed that one suspect carrying a backpack was found entering the adjoining building on Sunday night, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Southeast Delhi) Rajesh Deo said.

During investigation, on the basis of inputs received from Chhattisgarh Police on Thursday, Srivas was identified as the prime suspect in the case. The photograph of the accused was collected which was matched with the suspect who was seen entering the adjoining building on Sunday and exiting on Monday evening, the DCP said.

As Srivas is a resident of Kabir Dham, Chhattisgarh, efforts were made to identify his mode of transport. Based on the technical surveillance, it was revealed that the accused had booked a bus from Delhi to Sagar. The bus left ISBT, Kashmere Gate at 9 pm on Monday, he said.