BENGALURU: The North East division police have solved a dacoity case, in which two staff of a petrol pump was robbed of cash Rs 9 lakh. A gang of seven men were arrested in this connection.
The accused have been identified as Kempegowda alias Shivu, 27, of Kasaba in Doddaballapura, Bhadresh, 22, of Solur in Magadi, Naveen, 23, a resident of Magadi Town, Shiva, 19, of Rajaghatta in Doddaballapura, Hussain alais Anju, 30, of Palanajoganahalli in Doddaballapura, Nandan Kumar alias Nandan Goswami, 20, and Harish, 23, both residents of Hesaraghatta. The other two accused Naveen and Manju are absconding and efforts are on to nab them.
On Monday, Balakrishna, the owner of Fuel Zone petrol pump in Hunasamaranahalli, had filed a complaint with the Yelahanka police that he had sent his staff, Vishwanath and Somu, to deposit cash Rs 9 lakh at HDFC Bank.
When the duo was going on a two-wheeler, a gang of four miscreants allegedly waylaid them at Hunasamaranahalli Service Road. The miscreants allegedly threatened the staff with lethal weapons and robbed them of cash.
Based on the complaint, the police launched an investigation and formed special teams to nab the robbers. During the course of investigation the police suspected the role of the petrol pump staff and took the details of former employees. It was learnt that Naveen, who is absconding, had left the job around one and a half months ago. The police zeroed in on him and tracked his phone calls.
“The call details report led us to Bhadresh, his classmate. When Bhadresh was picked up, he revealed the entire plot and led to the arrest of others. His questioning revealed that the gang members had big plans to commit dacoity at petrol pumps.
As most of the accused had worked in petrol pumps earlier, they knew about the financial transactions. All the accused had left their jobs about two months ago and were conspiring to commit series of dacoities,” the police said.
Ambitious targets
The gang had allegedly planned to rob only petrol pump staff. “They had a target to commit at least ten dacoities a month and make Rs 1 crore per month, so that each gang member will get at least Rs 10 lakh per month. They worked towards it and their first target was Fuel Zone as Naveen worked there.
Though he had left the job, he used to visit the pump on the pretext of meeting old friends. On Monday, he contacted Vishwanath over phone and he casually told him that he was going to bank to deposit money, without knowing the plans of Naveen,” the police said.
“Immediately after the call, Naveen alerted Bhadresh, who along with other accused committed the dacoity as per the plan. They would have committed more such offences if they were not caught,” the police said. They have recovered three two-wheelers used to commit the offence, Rs 7.03 lakh cash and lethal weapons from the accused.
Man, sons involved in 19 cases held
The Kalasipalya police have arrested a gang of four men who allegedly diverted the attention of people and robbed them of their valuables. They were involved in 19 cases. A stolen pistol, live bullets and valuables worth Rs 24 lakh were recovered. They have been identified as Dharmalingam, 47, his sons Ashok Kumar, 25, and Arun Kumar, 24, and Michael, 24, all residents of Delhi.
T.A. Nagaraj had filed a complaint on February 24 that some men on a bike approached his car near Coronation Circle. They told him that his car tyre was flat. When he got down to check, the tyre had no problem. But before he could get back into the car, they escaped with six silver trophies worth Rs 2.28 lakh.
