Kochi: Nearly a month after an armed robbery at an Eroor house created panic among Kochiites, a special squad of the Kerala Police on Wednesday finally managed to capture three of the 11-member gang from the national capital.
Arshad, the mastermind, and his aides Shehshad and Roni were held from Dilshad Garden with the help of Delhi Police.
“The trio was arrested by noon. We’re tracking them based on certain leads received from the crime spot and CCTV visuals. We’ve also got leads on the remaining gang members. The three will be taken to Kochi only on Friday,” Hill Palace circle inspector Shiju P.S., who led the squad.
Armed robbers first struck at the house of an elderly couple at Pullepady Crossroad in the heart of the city in the wee hours of December 15. They attached the couple and forcefully took away a two-sovereign gold chain and a couple of gold bangles weighing one and a half sovereigns each.
Another armed robbery was committed the next day at an isolated house in Eroor near Tripunithura. After brutally assaulting the household, the robbers looted 50 sovereign gold, '24, 000 in cash and mobile phones. It sent panic waves through the city.
From initial stage itself, the cops suspected the same gang behind both the loots based on the modus operandi.
Front windows were broken in both the houses located within 50 metres of railway tracks and the gang carried weapons and spoke in Hindi. The cops later unearthed CCTV images that caught the 11-member group coming out of a theatre in Tripunithura.
Initially, the probe had reached a dead end with the accused splitting into several groups and escaping to various states. They also destroyed the mobile SIMs and used new ones.
The police had sent separate squads to Maharashtra, West Bengal and New Delhi in pursuit of the gang members.
