The Jabalpur Railway Police Force (RPF) along with the Navi Mumbai police nabbed two men wanted in a robbery case at Kalamboli from Jabalpur station in Madhya Pradesh on Wednesday.
The Jabalpur RPF in a press note said the accused have been identified as Shivam Pandey (21) and Ram Sunder (27), both residents of Rewa in Madhya Pradesh.
On Monday night, Santosh Murkundi (44), a jeweller based in Belagavi in Karnataka, was robbed of ₹50.70 lakh in valuables by an Ola driver and three associates at Kalamboli. On Tuesday evening, the Kalamboli police detained the Ola driver. After interrogating him, the police learnt about the possibility of the accused having fled to Rewa town by train via Jabalpur. The Navi Mumbai police then tipped off the Jabalpur RPF, which traced the suspects on Wednesday morning with help of photographs they received on WhatsApp.
The cyber cell located the accused to Pipariya station and searches were carried out in all trains arriving at Jabalpur station after 7 a.m. The two suspects were found travelling on train number 12187 and caught by the RPF near the foot overbridge on platform number 3. A Kalamboli police officer said, “We reached Jabalpur by flight and interrogated the suspects. They confessed to robbing one person on the pretext of giving a lift.” The stolen valuables were recovered from them.
Accused offered lift
The police said the jeweller, Mr. Murkundi, was returning from Zaveri Bazar after purchasing gold on Monday evening and missed his bus. Mr. Murkundi then took a local train to Kharghar and waited at Sion-Panvel Road for a bus to Belagavi.
A police officer said, “At 9 p.m., an Ola car with three passengers heading towards Pune approached him and the driver offered him a lift. Mr. Murkundi took the offer and entered the car.”
The police said that the driver on the pretext of dropping off a passenger, took the Mumbai-Pune route from Shedung phata and stopped at an isolated place. The trio then assaulted Mr. Murkundi, threw chilli powder into his eyes and fled with his bag which contained 170 tola gold worth ₹50.55 lakh, ₹10,000 in cash and two mobiles.
Mr. Murkundi managed to reach Kalamboli police station and registered a case. With the help of Ola officials and CCTV footage, the Kalamboli police nabbed the driver. The police suspect the involvement of more accused in the case.