An alert jewellery shop owner thwarted a robbery at his shop in Ghatkopar when he locked two robbers inside the shop and summoned the police.

The robbers had initially approached the shopkeeper with a marriage proposal and had requested for a place to spend the night on Tuesday. The robbers would have absconded with jewellery worth Rs seven lakh if they had not been nabbed.

On Tuesday, Mukesh Jain who has a jewellery shop at Sunderbaug, Kurla, was approached by a friend of his neighbouring shop keeper, who told him about two men who had come with a marriage proposal for him. The men then met Jain and asked if they could sleep in his shop.

Jain agreed and the two friends Manohar Solanki (39) and Rajulal Gurav alias Pappu (26) arrived at his shop to spend the night.

On Tuesday night, all three men went off to sleep in Jain’s shop after having dinner. Around 2:30 am, Jain woke up to find the duo gone and noticed that the jewellery was also missing.

“I momentarily panicked and then went to the small kitchen at the back of the shop to see if both of them were there. I spotted them standing there with two bags and I instantly realised that they had stolen all the ornaments from my shop and were preparing to flee. They spotted me and I rushed to stop them from leaving. However, one of them sat on my chest and began choking me while the other held me down. They then tried to lock me inside the bathroom but I wriggled free and ran towards the entrance door. They had already unlatched the door before our scuffle and seizing the opportunity, I ran out and immediately locked them inside and bolted the door,” recalled Jain. He then called out to his neighbours and eventually informed the police.

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