Alerts from Kerala, Assam thwart Patna gold heist
PATNA: Technology prevented a gold heist in Patna when employees of Manappuram Finance Limited received alerts from their surveillance systems, and alerted cops, some of whom refused to act, in the wee hours of Tuesday.
The smart use of technology thwarted the burglars’ attempt to steal 38kg gold, worth `6.95 crore, from the firm’s Boring Road branch here.
The burglars, armed with gas cutters and other tools, managed to cut through the main shutter and three of the five layers of the reinforced iron door of the strongroom, where the gold was kept, before security personnel arrived.
The surveillance system at Thrissur in Kerala alerted the firm’s managing director, its regional manager Vinay KK, marketing manager Usha Chandran in Guwahati and senior manager security Sachchidanand Pandey here at 1.54 am. Even as he received calls about the attempted burglary from his bosses in Guwahati and Kerala, Pandey said he also received a computergenerated SMS on his cellphone.
In the meantime, Patna branch manager Gyan Shankar Singh also received calls from Vinay and Usha and rushed to the branch. Thieves had reportedly cut CCTV camera and internet connection wires, but the sensors installed there had already sent alerts to the control room.
A retired deputy superintendent of Bihar police, Pandey said, “I immediately set off on foot, as I stay close to my office (at Shree Apartment in Anandpuri, about 1.5 kms away). I came across a police patrol party on Boring Road, which refused to help me. As I proceeded towards my office, I found two other constables on patrolling, and they accompanied me. When we reached, I found one person running away. One of the cops tried to chase, but the thief disappeared in fog and darkness.”
Deputy superintendent of police, Kotwali, Shibli Nomani said, “I am recommending suspension of the assistant subinspector on Boring Road who refused assistance. I am also recommending that two other constables of Buddha Colony police station on patrolling be rewarded for their timely help.”
The ‘shutter gang’, with roots in Bihar and UP was active in the two states in 2015. They reportedly looted 38 cooperative banks in Araria, Darbhanga, Supaul districts of Bihar besides others in UP.