Three men, including two goldsmiths, have been arrested for allegedly stealing jewelry worth Rs 1 crore from a showroom in Lajpat Nagar in south east Delhi and melting the same, police said on Wednesday.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (South East) Ravi Kumar Singh said that on January 29, a complaint was received where the complainant claimed that someone broke into a shop and stole diamond and gold jewelry from the display box.

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Based on the complaint, a CCTV analysis of the area revealed that the burglar had earlier tried to enter the showroom on late 14 January but was unsuccessful in doing the same, so he targeted a nearby showroom and stole cash amounting to Rs 24,000, Singh said.

The official elaborated that the bike used in the theft was found to be belonging to a person that uses it for online cab service application. The suspect was apprehended from Rishikesh, Uttarakhand, after an extensive technical analysis.

During interrogation, the suspect, identified as Soib, tried to mislead the investigation but later confessed when confronted with digital evidence. He admitted to both burglaries and revealed that he sold the stolen jewellery to Sumit Soni in exchange for Rs. 6.60 lakh immediately after the theft, Singh added.

Moreover, a screwdriver used in burglary was also recovered from his possession and further on his instance, raids were conducted at Madangir and another associate, Sumit was arrested from whom 100 grams of stolen diamonds and 10 gram gold chain, which was purchased with stolen money, were recovered, he stated.

Sumit confessed to extracting diamonds from the stolen jewelry and selling it for Rs 8 lakh to another person, Manik Kadam, who was also apprehended from Tigri area of South Delhi and 57 grams of gold, extracted from melted stolen jewelry was also recovered, the DCP said.