Key accused in 2017 Sanpada bank heist dies of heart attack in Taloja jail

One of the prime accused in last year’s Sanpada bank heist, who was arrested in November 2017, died of a heart attack in Taloja jail on Tuesday morning.

According to the police, Moyuddin Shaikh, 35, a resident of Govandi, collapsed in his barrack on Monday night and was later admitted in the jail hospital. He died there after some time.

In November 2017, Shaikh and his gang had looted Bank of Baroda’s Sanpada branch. They had dug a 30-foot tunnel from a nearby shop to the bank between November 10 and 12, and stole cash and jewellery worth ₹3.43 crore from 27 lockers of the bank.

The heist was discovered on November 13, when the bank was opened after the weekend.

After committing the heist, Shaikh had fled to Kolkata and was arrested from there on November 20. His wife Sharnazbi, 34, was arrested in Mumbai for the same crime. She is still in the jail, a senior officer said.

After the incidents, the police arrested 11 accused within a few weeks. The twelfth accused — Sanjay Kamble, 30 — was arrested by the Vasai police on October 29. Three other gang members are still at large and the police are searching for them. “Shaikh had played a key role in the heist. He was also responsible for transporting the stolen booty. He and one more accused, Shravan Kumar Hegde, 38, had sold two kilograms of stolen gold to a goldsmith, Rajendra Wagh, 42, in Malegaon. We later arrested Hegde and Wagh and recovered 1.74kg of gold from Wagh,” said S Kakde, inspector from Sanpada police station.

A senior official from Taloja jail said, “After Shaikh was declared dead in the jail hospital, we sent the body to JJ Hospital for conducting a postmortem. After that, the body was handed over to his family members.”

Suraj Padvi, senior inspector from Sanpada police station, said, “Among the three accused who are yet to be arrested, one is the mastermind — Deepak Mishra, a resident of Nalasopara. We hope to trace Mishra and the other two accused soon and arrest all of them.”

First Published: Nov 29, 2018 00:50 IST