A gold shop in Butwal has been robbed with the main purpose of stealing gold kept as collateral in the shop and claiming insurance money. The theft occurred on the morning of Jestha 17 at Tinau Gold and Silver Shop in Amarpath, which is considered the main business center of Butwal for the gold business.

The shop owner Deepak BK and his relatives informed the police about the theft in the gold shop. After receiving the information, the police reached the gold shop and studied and investigated the shop where the theft took place. During the investigation, the police started an investigation after becoming suspicious of the owner and the employees working in the shop. The nature of the incident, footage from various CCTV cameras, and the statements of the owner Deepak of Pulchowk, Butwal Sub-metropolitan City-3, and the worker Navin BK of Banbatika, Tilottama Municipality-2, led to the police making both the accused public on Wednesday along with evidence that the shop owner and the worker BK are the main accused in the theft.

At the beginning of the investigation, the police had collected some suspicious details. The shutter of the shop was opened without any force. The channel gate and the other shutter were not broken. The shop's CCTV had been closed for four months. A hut with more than 2 dozen keys was found inside the shop. The key was also used to open the gold locker.

Rupandehi Police Chief Superintendent of Police Janak Bahadur Shah said that after the first investigation of the incident, the police started an investigation by keeping shop owner Deepak and worker Navin under surveillance. The shop owner, Deepak, who informed about the theft, was in Pokhara. 'After that, we started further investigation by keeping both Deepak and Navin under surveillance,' he said. 'After collecting evidence, we arrested both of them on Tuesday and presented them in court.' He said that the investigation is being conducted by investigation teams from the District Police, Nepal Provincial Police and Lumbini Provincial Police.

The shop owner had been running the shop at a financial loss for a long time. Deepak was in further trouble due to family disputes, a growing financial crisis, and at the same time, when the owners of the gold ornaments that were pledged started demanding the gold. Police have stated that the gold pledged in his shop is worth crores. However, when Deepak sold all that gold on credit and the gold owners started demanding it back, Deepak was in further financial trouble and due to that, he pretended that the gold pledged was stolen and claimed the insurance money and was unable to return the gold to the owner. According to Nishant Srivastava, Deputy Superintendent of Police at the Area Police Office, Butwal, who is involved in the investigation, he planned to rob his own shop and ‘fake the shop and steal’.

‘Deepak bought the gold as collateral at a cheap price.’ "The initial investigation shows that he made jewelry out of it and sold it on credit," he said. "However, the amount of gold sold did not come and the owner of the gold that was in the mortgage also started looking for the gold, after which it seems that a plan was hatched to stage a theft." DSP Srivastava said that Deepak entered the shop at 11 pm on Jestha 16 after searching for the key and breaking the shutter and opening it, took out the gold from the locker in the shop and left the shop at around 2 am on Jestha 17.

After taking out the gold from the shop, Deepak carried the gold in a bag at night, crossed the Tinau Bridge, reached Golpark via Ganesh Tol in Purano Batauli and reached Pokhara in his car at night. He had returned from Pokhara after receiving information about the theft of the shop. However, out of the stolen goods, the police have recovered only 5 tolas 4.1 red gold from Deepak's house.

The operator Deepak initially claimed that 70 tolas of gold were stolen. However, according to the claims of the gold pawners, the police investigation has shown that Deepak should have more than 70 tolas of gold. ‘That is why we are conducting further investigation,’ said Police Chief Shah, ‘One of the pawners has already been contacted, others are also coming.’ It is seen that the ‘master key’ of the shop was used to open the shop and locker.

Tul Bahadur Bik, the former operator of the Tinau gold and silver shop, which has been in operation since 2042 BS, said that he has opened another shop nearby by entrusting the shop to his son Deepak. "When I started being negligent in business, I left the shop I was running and opened another one. I had no idea that it was in such a state of collapse," he said. "The police should conduct a serious investigation and bring out the truth."

He said that an investigation should also be conducted to determine whether Deepak had damaged the business or if someone else had done so. When he was arrested two days ago, Deepak had denied his involvement in the incident. However, Deputy Superintendent of Police Srivastava said that he was speechless when the police showed him the CCTV footage collected before his arrest. Although Deepak said that gold ornaments worth Rs 14.694 million were stolen in the investigation so far, the police suspect that more gold was embezzled in the incident. ‘That is why we are conducting further investigation,’ DSP Srivastava said, ‘We have initiated action against Deepak and Naveen in a criminal breach of trust case.’