Hyderabad: In the sensational Muthoot heist at RC Puram in December 2016, in which an interstate gang looted 41.8 kg gold by posing as CBI officers, five suspects are still absconding. The police could recover only 4 kg gold. Account holders who mortgaged their ornaments were paid insurance amount by Muthoot.
In one of the major operations to hunt down the suspects, more than 200 CCTVs, starting from RC Puram to the roads leading towards the Karnataka border, were analysed. They shed light on a black colour Scorpio in which the suspects escaped.
The vehicle entered the city with a registration number which was not the same when it left. And two members were found piloting on a bike.
Based on the clues and other evidence, the police nabbed eight suspects and recovered 4 kg gold, while four of their accomplices are still at large. The police believes that the remaining gold is with them.
The revelations by the suspects were shocking. None of two gang members knew the third. All had used SIM cards procured with fake electoral and Aadhaar cards supplied to them by Prajapathi Mobiles in Lucknow and JM Mobiles in Salem. One suspect obtained a SIM card in the name of his firm, by producing his passport as proof. The mobile numbers used by Lakshman and another suspect Lambu’s wife, Rajashree Nalawade, belon-ged to other persons who had lost their mobiles two years ago and did not report to the police.
The gang members with the help of a smelter, Ravi Lambodhar Kurdekar, converted the jewellery in Pune into 28 gold bars weighing between 500 gm and 1.8 kg each. A part of it could not be melted as a result of a technical snag.
The kingpin, Lakshman Narayan Mudang alias Lakshman, had conducted a recce of the store for three months prior to the offence. Father of two, Lakshman wanted to be an army officer and the other a doctor.
Vijay who gave shelter to the gang in Karnataka wanted to earn money for a rare pancreatic disorder. Patil who drove the vehicle during the escape was an expert driver and was obsessed with expensive cars and was planning to buy one with the booty.
Sundar Rajaratnam Kangalla of Mahbubnagar was an associate of Chota Rajan and was to be nominated as a corporator in Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) after the elections in February 2017. He had close relation with four MLAs in Mumbai and was also a close associate of notorious gangster Chota Rajan’s assistant D.K. Rao.
