Doctor among eleven arrested; 80% cash, jewellery recovered
KANPUR: The police on Sunday claimed to have solved the heist at a Union Bank of India branch here on February 19 in which masked men decamped with cash and jewellery kept in 32 lockers.
Inspector general, Kanpur zone, Alok Singh said 11 people, including the owner of a hospital, had been arrested and 80% of the stolen cash and jewellery recovered.
“Dr Sanjeev Arya, owner of Sanjeevani Hospital in Kakdeo area of Kanpur, is among the arrested people. Not only did he finance the heist, he even gave burglars a cover before and after the crime,” Singh said.
He said the gang included professional criminals, who were involved in thefts across the country as well as in Bangladesh and Nepal.
The police recovered 4 kg gold, 18 kg silver, diamond jewellery worth Rs 35 lakh, Rs 4 lakh cash and vehicles used in the crime. The criminals had buried most of the jewellery and cash in a grave in Jharkhand, police said.
“Seven people, including gang leader Bhanu Pratap, are from Kanpur. Burglars Feku Basad and Mithun Mandal are from Jharkhand, while Rajkumar Sharma is from Malda (West Bengal). One of the accused is from Lucknow,” Singh said.
He said raids were on to arrest the remaining two criminals, Mamu of Malda and Krishna Ravi Das of Jharkhand, who were still at large. “The same gang was involved in gold burglary in Mallapuram gold loan bank in Kerala. Rajkumar Sharma was arrested for a robbery in jewellery showroom in 2010,” Singh said. “According to police, Bhanu Pratap is a hardened criminal who has dozens of cases of burglary, murder and kidnapping against him,” said Singh. Bhanu and Raj Kumar were together in Kanpur jail where they became friends and worked together in number of cases of robbery, he said. CONTINUED ON P 8
Senior superintendent of police (SSP), Kanpur, Akhilesh Kumar said the gang spent months planning for the heist.
“They carried out a recce of more than 50 banks in and around Kanpur before zeroing in on the Pashupati Nagar branch of UBI,” Kumar said.
Earlier, a team comprising inspectors Santosh Singh, Vinod Mishra, Rishikant Shukla and Satish Singh was formed which functioned under close supervision of the IG and the SSP.
The IG said the police team analysed several cases and found similarities in them. “The clues led the police to Bhanu Pratap and the accused from Malda and Jharkhand,” he said.
Singh said the accused told the police that they attempted to enter a branch of Gramin Bank in Etawah on February 17 but had to run away as a police patrol team reached there.
“The gang examines banks and stores where security mechanism is weak. They executed their plan on Saturdays so that they have plenty of time to commit the crime and escape easily,” Singh said.
“The gang members would not contact each other for months after committing the crime,” he said.
He said UP director general of police OP Singh had announced a cash reward of Rs 2.5 lakh for the police team comprising 35 members.