Vadodara: Three persons – all with checkered pasts – were arrested by Panchmahal police with firearms even as two of their aides escaped on Friday. The accused were allegedly planning to commit a major robbery in the district.
The special operations group (SOG) of Panchmahal police had received information regarding five suspicious persons carrying firearms. It had come to know that they had left Devgadh Baria and were on their way to Halol.
Sleuths of the SOG along with Panchmahal police’s Local Crime Branch (LCB) and Rajgadh police kept a watch at Panch Pathra crossroads in Ghoghamba taluka of the district. The suspects who came to the spot in the car were stopped by police.
When the car was stopped two persons managed to escape while three others – Jabir Fatani, Hanif Katiya and Amruddin Katiya – were nabbed. A search of the car led the police to a country-made pistol, a ‘tamancha’, 17 cartridges, one knife and four phones. The accused told the police that all of them were residents of Bhavnagar district and hailed from Dhrangadhra.
On checking the background of the accused, it came to light that Hanif was earlier convicted in a murder case, Jabir was an accused in an Arms Act case and Amruddin’s father was named as an accused in two or three murders. The accused told the police that the two persons who had escaped were Harshad Solanki from Dhrangadhra and another person who was referred to as Munnabhai by Solanki.
The police have claimed that the accused were planning to conduct a robbery in the rural areas around Halol town. They had assembled at Devgadh Baria and then moved ahead from there.
The accused in custody
