Vadodara: One week after three men carried out a sensational Rs 6 lakh robbery in the Karelibaug area, city police on Thursday arrested an ex-army officer and two others for the offence. Naresh Ravat, who served as a field major in the Indian Army at Jammu and Kashmir, had masterminded and executed the robbery with the help of two men from Madhya Pradesh.
The police said Ravat, 33, had been planning the robbery for the last few months. “Ravat said he was dismissed (cashiered) from the Army four months ago, after an inquiry in his domestic life was conducted against him. He knew that he was about to lose his job and wouldn’t have any other source of income. So he decided to commit the robbery,” said Manoj Sashidhar, city police commissioner.
Ravat, a resident of Tarsali, illegally acquired a pistol from Madhya Pradesh with the help of the other two accused, Ashish Maurya and Nandkishor Patel, both residents of Sagar district in MP. Ravat met them when he was posted in Sagar two years ago and became friends with the duo. Ravat wanted money quickly so he decided to target the cash logistics van.
“Ravat is sharp and planned the loot meticulously. The trio did a recce of the cash logistics van for five days and decided to hit it in the Karelibaug area. Ravat was carrying the pistol with him,” Sashidhar added. After the Writer Safeguard Ltd van stopped near Spring Hill Complex in Karelibaug, Maurya, 25, positioned himself near the ATM booth while Patel, 23, stood nearby.
When the cash logistics company employee, Ankit Thakur, walked towards the ATM booth, Maurya lunged towards him and snatched the bag full of cash. When Thakur resisted, Ashish stabbed him with a knife and Patel tried to attack him. Ravat, who standing at a distance, rushed in and pointed the pistol at Thakur but the weapon misfired. The security guard accompanying Thakur opened fire, but the trio fled with the cash.
The car used in the robbery had been robbed from a senior citizen one week before the robbery. It was found abandoned on Fatehpura Road one day after the robbery. The police seized Rs 1.88 lakh cash from the accused along with three mobile phones and Ravat’s car.
CCTV grab helped crack the loot
Police cracked the case after it found the shop from where the accused had put tinted film on the car’s windows. The shopowner recognized one of them from the CCTV grabs. “Once we got a clue about one of the accused, we used our CCTV network to trace their movements after the robbery. Crime branch and Karelibaug police, in a joint operation, then zeroed in on an ex-army officer, Naresh Ravat, who led them to the other two accused.
Accused booked for domestic violence in 2015
Police said that Naresh Ravat is an ex-army field major. He had been booked for domestic violence by the Makarpura police in 2015. His first wife had filed a complaint against him. The Army had conducted an inquiry against Ravat for bigamy, after he married a second time without divorcing his wife, police said. He was living with his second wife and a daughter.
Ex-army major was also planning another crime
Naresh Ravat was planning to conduct another crime, as the money from the robbery was much less than he expected. Police said that Ravat’s Facebook posts in 2015 indicated that he wanted to make a lot of money. After the Rs 6 lakh robbery, he thought of committing another similar crime. He didn’t flee the city as he was confident he wouldn’t get caught.
The accused in custody