In less than 24 hours after a crime, the Cyberabad police nabbed seven members of an armed gang that had looted Muthoot Finance Limited’s Hosur branch in Tamil Nadu’s Krishnagiri district on Friday. The police said that the inter-state gang was nabbed in a coordinated operation. On Friday morning, around 9.30 am, soon after the branch opened, the five-member armed gang robbed around 25 kg of gold jewellery estimated to be worth around Rs 7.5 crore and around Rs 96,000 in cash.
They held the staff at gunpoint and looted the branch. The members of the gang, who had covered their faces with cloths, took away the video recorder of the CCTV cameras from the branch with them.
Based on information received from the preliminary investigation, police departments in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Telangana were alerted about a possible movement of the armed robbers. According to Cyberabad Commissioner VC Sajjanar, Krishnagiri Superintendent of Police (SP) Bandi Gangadar was regularly updating and coordinating with the Telangana police.
Addressing the media, Sajjanar said, “The excellent coordination and timely passing on of information as well as cooperation between the teams, helped in nabbing the seven accused. Around 25 kg of gold, 10 magazines, 97 rounds, two vehicles, a container lorry, 13 cell phones have been recovered.”
On Friday night, information was received from the Tamil Nadu police about the movement of the armed robbers. Immediately, several teams were pressed into action. “In very less time, around 100 officers took to the streets in the night. The task force also sent in their personnel. The Krishnagiri SP kept passing on information to us and coordinated the initiative very well. We decided to check all vehicles that were heading towards Nagpur. All toll gates were deployed with armed personnel. Ambush points were also set up as we were informed that they are armed and could open fire when intercepted,” Sajjanar said.
“Raikal, Shadnagar, Shamshabad, Medchal toll plazas were the main points where teams were deployed. All vehicles that drove into the toll gate were checked. Teams also checked hotels in the vicinity of the hotels,” he added.
According to the police, around 3 am, the police spotted a Tata Sumo on the Kurnool highway and found it suspicious. Immediately, the staff at the Raikal toll plaza were alerted. “We allowed the vehicle to pass and sent teams to follow the suspicious vehicle and the teams at the toll plazas ahead were alerted. We had more personnel in the toll plaza ahead, hence it made sense to follow them to the toll plaza ahead. At the Tondupally toll plaza, their vehicle was intercepted and five people were taken into custody,” said the Commissioner.
After questioning, the police were told that the money and the gold was in a container lorry that was on its way to Hyderabad. Immediately, the Balanagar police were alerted and they detained the vehicle. “The weapons and the gold were kept inside a box, which was placed in a cavity made inside the lorry,” said Sajjanar.
Members of the inter-state gang hail from Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. Seven of them have been arrested while one is absconding.
Muthoot Finance in Ludhiana targeted earlier
The police said that in October, the members of the same gang had tried to loot a branch of Muthoot Finance in Ludhiana. While the members of the gang were caught during the loot, two people escaped. These two are the main accused in this crime.
“In the last few weeks, they conducted a recce of several Muthoot Finance branches. They finally decided to loot the Hosur branch because it had a road on both sides of the branch. The main accused visited this branch three times. He had also taken videos of the inside of the branch on his cell phone,” the police said.
The main accused have been identified as Rup Singh Baghal, Amit Shukhla, Shankar Singh Bayyal Baghal who hail from Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh. Pavan Kumar Biskarma, Buphender manji and Vivek Mandal hail from Ranchi. Teekram and Rajeev Kumar were travelling in the container lorry, police said.
