Surat: A man has been booked for stealing one kg of gold worth Rs 70 lakh after his employer landed in jail following a raid by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI).The accused allegedly frightened his employer’s wife with the threat of a GST raid and persuaded her to move her jewellery into private lockers. He later changed the locker locks, stole the valuables and fled to his native place in Uttar Pradesh.Althan police booked the accused, Lavkush Shukla alias Chandan, and launched an investigation.Surat-based textile trader Sanjay Maheshwari was raided by the DRI on December 25, 2025. The next day, Shukla told Maheshwari’s wife Dipti that the family could face a GST raid at any time. He advised her to shift all the jewellery to avoid seizure, but not to any relative’s house, claiming officers might raid those locations as well.As Dipti already had a private locker at Pradhan Safe Deposit Lockers in the City Light area, she went there with Shukla to collect documents and valuables. They then proceeded to Orchid Safe Deposit Vault in Vesu, where two lockers were rented in Shukla’s name. Dipti stored one kg of gold jewellery worth Rs 70 lakh, property papers and other important documents in the lockers before leaving.On December 27, Dipti, her brother Ashu Gupta, and Shukla travelled to Ahmedabad to meet Maheshwari, who was lodged in jail. After the meeting, Dipti asked Shukla to stay back in Ahmedabad with Maheshwari’s partner, Vivek.On December 29, when Gupta again went to Ahmedabad to meet Maheshwari, he tried calling Shukla, who claimed he had gone to Delhi for work.Growing suspicious, Gupta returned to Surat and visited Orchid Safe Deposit Vault, where the manager informed him that Shukla had already changed both locker locks the same day.When the family contacted Shukla, he allegedly demanded Rs 54 lakh in exchange for the locker keys and threatened to kill Dipti’s children if the money was not paid.With Maheshwari still in jail, the family initially refrained from approaching the police. After his release and return to Surat, they filed a complaint.Althan police booked Shukla for criminal breach of trust by a servant and criminal intimidation, and dispatched a team to Jalaun district in Uttar Pradesh to trace him.
