Hyderabad: Cyberabad police arrested two more members of the gang involved in the failed attempt to rob a Muthoot Finance branch in Mailardevpally on July 4, though the main accused have not yet been traced. Police said that the clues from the vehicle used by the gang to flee led to the arrests.
Police found that the suspects did not cover their faces during the attempt as they had planned to decamp with the digital video recorder.
The two persons arrested on Friday are Shafiuddin Navaboddin Sayyad and Santosh Dasharath Veerkar. Dastagir and Arshad Fulumuddin Khan were arrested earlier. Three other major suspects Shareef, Anna and Farooq are absconding.
Police said Shareef and Arshad were earlier arrested by the Maharashtra police for their involvement in robbery cases in and put in Dhule sub-jail in Maharashtra. Shafiuddin, a software professional from Osmanabad, had been arrested in 2004 for circulating fake currency and sentenced to 10 years in jail but was released in 2011 after he appealed.
Arshad and Shareef met during their stay in the Dhule sub jail and later Shafiuddin joined them.
“The gang had travelled to Hyderabad from Osmanabad a month prior to the dacoity attempt on July 4 and conducted a recce at all Muthoot branches. They finalised the branch at Mailardevpally after finding that it was unguarded and had many escape routes," Joint Commissioner of Police Cyberabad Shanawaz Qasim said.
Dastagir, who has a fruit stall near the Muthoot branch and is the father-in-law of Shafuddin, gave the gang some inputs on the locality of the targeted branch. At the time of the offence, Dastagir waited at his fruit stall while four others entered the branch with weapons and two others waited near the getaway vehicle. After the attempt at robbery failed, Dastagir stayed back, while the others fled. When they reached Attapur, Sharif and Farooq drove into Happy Home apartment, while the others got down on the main road.
Based on clues from the vehicle, teams deputed to Osmanabad first caught Dastagir and Arshad and based on their confessions, nabbed the other two on Friday. They were sent to judicial custody. Police also seized the car, two knives, an iron rod, and mobile phones.
