Rs 400-crore Chorla Ghat Robbery: SP Says Belagavi Police Ready To Assist Maharashtra
Chorla Ghat is a tri-junction intersection of Karnataka, Goa and Belagavi border
Belagavi: Belagavi district Superintendent of Police K Ramarajan on Sunday said that the Belagavi district police would extend all cooperation to the Maharashtra police in the investigation into the alleged Rs 400-crore robbery reported at Chorla Ghat.
Chorla Ghat is a tri-junction intersection of Karnataka, Goa and Belagavi border.
Addressing reporters, the SP said that the Nashik police had written a letter on January 6 in connection with the incident. Following this, a team comprising the Khanapur Sub-Inspector and three personnel from Khanapur and Nandgad, who are fluent in Marathi, was sent to Nashik. The DySP is monitoring the matter and updating the Belagavi SP on a daily basis. He added that if the Nashik police wish to speak to senior officers, the staff have been instructed to put them in touch with him.
He said that the complaint filed by Sandeep Datta Patil in Nashik stated that he was kidnapped on October 22 by five persons, alleging that he was forcibly taken in a Fortuner car and assaulted. The kidnappers who took him told him that Rs 400 crore had been robbed on October 16 and that they suspected him to be part of the robbery gang, and demanded that he return the money.
The SP also clarified that the exact spot where the robbery took place is also not known. The Ghat section runs in the border of three states.
“There is no one who has seen the incident or any eyewitness," he said.
Sub-Inspector Biradar, who was sent to Nashik, spoke to Sandeep Patil, who stated that he had not witnessed the robbery and had come to know about it only after the kidnappers accused him of being involved. The Karnataka police team has not got an opportunity to question the arrested kidnappers so far.
The SP said that if the preparation for the offence took place in Maharashtra and if the robbery occurred in Karnataka limits, there were two legal options — either the Maharashtra police could register the FIR and file the chargesheet there, or a case could be registered here.
He explained that under Section 198 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), an offence that begins in one place and ends in another can be registered in either jurisdiction.
If the Belagavi police receive any concrete information such as eyewitness accounts, victim details or particulars of the containers involved, the police are prepared to take up the probe if required.
