Bank Heist Cracked? 3 suspects picked up from Dhule, but cops deny making arrests

The Navi Mumbai police seems to have cracked the multi-crore Bank of Baroda robbery case, after three suspects were picked up from Dhule district, almost 350-kilometre away from the scene of crime, on Thursday night.

Sources confirm that the trio were traced in Dhule based on technical evidence. The suspects have been brought to Navi Mumbai and are being interrogated.

It is yet to be confirmed whether prime accused Gena Bachchan Prasad, who was continuously changing location in Maharashtra to evade arrest, is among the three suspects picked up from Dhule.

The Navi Mumbai police have made no official announcement regarding the arrest and added that the investigators are studying the Call Data Records of the tenants whose the shop was rented out.

“Nothing worth sharing right now. We don’t want to share minor developments in the case. The investigations are still underway. We are working on it,” said Tushar Doshi, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Crime, Navi Mumbai.

Several teams have been formed and dispatched to different states including Jharkhand to trace Prasad, a tenant of the general store who had taken a room on rent since May this year.

A group of burglars dug up a tunnel into Juinagar branch of Bank of Baroda (BoB), broke open 30 lockers and decamped with gold and silver jewellery worth Rs 3.19 crore in the heist.

After digging up the tunnel, the burglars stuffed the debris in a gunny bag and would dump it in the morning in a nearby area. There is CCTV footage of three suspects but their faces are blurred. The grab of the CCTV footage has been sent to Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) to enhance the image of the suspects.

The 25-feet-deep tunnel, stretching across five shops, led from the locker room to a nearby general store which was recently rented out. It is suspected that the tunnel was dug at night when the commotion was less likely to draw attention.