Ahmedabad: Mehsana police cracked a sensational ‘robbery’ case in Kherva village within hours of it being reported, only to discover that the complainant had staged the entire episode to conceal the fact that he had secretly sold his daughter-in-law’s gold ornaments.The man had told Mehsana taluka police that on July 13, two unidentified men on a black motorcycle attacked him, flung chilli powder into his eyes, slashed him with a knife, and made off with a bag containing about 8.5 tolas of gold and roughly Rs 1.5 lakh in cash.A police team, acting under the supervision of the police inspector, began scanning CCTV footage along routes leading in and out of the village and questioned local witnesses. Inconsistencies surfaced quickly. The nature of the injury and the weapon described did not fit the pattern of a typical robbery — the knife turned out to be an ordinary household vegetable knife.The breakthrough came when CCTV footage showed the complainant alone at the alleged crime scene. The video captured him cutting the strap of his own bag, rubbing chilli powder into his own eyes, and inflicting a cut on his left wrist.Upon questioning, the man confessed that he had earlier sold gold ornaments belonging to his son and daughter-in-law — kept in a locker — without informing the family. The items, including a three-tola necklace, a three-tola chain and rings weighing about one and a half tolas, fetched him approximately Rs 5 lakh.Investigators said the man was under severe financial strain after spending nearly Rs 50 lakh to send his son and daughter-in-law to Canada, compounded by business losses. With the couple due to return to India for a family function, he feared being confronted over the missing jewellery and concocted the robbery to explain its disappearance. Police said legal proceedings are being initiated against him for filing a false complaint and misleading the investigation.
