STF arrests gangster, four others in gold loot cases

LUCKNOW: Uttar Pradesh special task force (STF) arrested gangster Avinash Chandra Tripathi and his four aides in Wazirganj area late on Monday night, a senior official said.

Tripathi carried a reward of Rs 50,000 on his arrest and was wanted in multiple cases of loot and robbery in Pune (Maharashtra), Vadodara (Gujarat) and Lucknow.

Senior superintendent of police (SSP), STF, Abhishek Singh said a team led by additional superintendent of police (ASP) Vishal Vikram Singh arrested Tripathi and his men when they reached Wazirganj to meet one of his associates.

He said Tripathi’s aides were identified as Shamsher Singh, Santosh Kumar Tewari, and Tewari’s two sons Rahul and Vishal.

Tewari, head of a village in Misrikh (Sitapur), and his sons used to give shelter to the gang after loot in lieu of a share in the booty.

The SSP said Tripathi was missing since June 10, 2014, when he escaped from police custody by drugging a police constable while being taken to court from jail in Lucknow.

He said Tripathi remained in jail for around six years before escaping and added that he had 17 criminal cases against him since 2000.

“Tripathi is said to have played a role in six other loot cases in Maharashtra, Gujarat and Nepal after he escaped from custody,” he added.

ASP Vishal Vikram Singh said Tripathi and his aides had looted gold worth Rs 1 crore from a jewellery shop in Pune in October 2014. He said another gangster Kamal Kishore Srivastava alias Tinku Kapala and his wife Shweta Srivastava were also involved in the case.

He said the gang also looted gold and diamonds worth Rs 5 crore from a jewellery shop in Koregaon, Pune, on December 24, 2014.

“Tinku’s wife Shweta, Shamsher, and Saurabh, who was a security guard at the jewellery shop, helped them in the recce. The same gang committed another robbery worth Rs 60 lakh from Kalyan jewellers in Vadodara in June 2015. Tinku was arrested on the spot and is lodged in jail since then,” Singh said.

“The gang committed two gold loots in Dhangadi, Nepal, in February and March 2018 and another loot in Pune on April 6, 2018,” he added.

Singh said Tripathi confessed during interrogation that he had purchased two plots in the name of his wife Swati from the loot money.

“The STF team have recovered an SUV, gold and diamond jewellery worth several lakhs of rupees and two firearms from his possession. Tripathi was earlier arrested in the murder of PWD junior engineer Masood, who was shot dead in Gomti Nagar area of Lucknow in 2002,” he said.

The ASP said Tripathi’s involvement was also found in the murder of one Shobhit Srivastava and a house robbery in Ghazipur area in February 2002.

“He was last arrested in connection with kidnapping and murder of a jeweller’s son from Alambagh, Lucknow in 2008,” Singh said.