Nashik robbery plotted at a wedding; mastermind arrested

NASHIK: Six men, all having criminal records, met at a wedding in February this year where they hatched a plan to pull off a grand robbery. These were the men behind the daring daylight dacoity attempt at Muthoot Finance Company office in Untawadi, Nashik, earlier this month in which one of them shot an IT engineer dead, the police said.
On Sunday, the Nashik police arrested one of the men, Jitendra Rajput (34), a native of Jaunpur district of Uttar Pradesh, from his residence in Surat in connection with the dacoity attempt. The police claimed he was the mastermind of the plan and had been arrested in the past in a murder case in UP. The police are on the lookout for the other five suspects.
The police said they tracked Rajput through one of the motorcycles and helmets that the gang had abandoned at Ashawadi, about 14km from Nashik, after their dacoity bid failed.
Rajput and his brother, Akashsingh, met the other four suspects at a wedding on February 19 this year, the police said. Rajput knew one of the four, Parmender Singh, through an inmate at the Muzaffarpur jail in UP where he was lodged in the past.
Rajput and Singh also knew another suspect, Subhash Gaur, who was working in Nashik as a security guard since 2016, the police said.
Abandoned bike leads police to mastermind
Gaur allegedly conducted a recce of possible spots where the gang could commit the robbery. He helped them identify the Muthoot Finance office at Untawadi and also offered his motorcycle.
The fifth suspect, Pappu alias Anuj Sahu, has dacoity and rioting cases registered against him in West Bengal. Sahu allegedly helped Rajput get one of the motorcycles used in the crime. Rajput bought the third motorcycle used in the dacoity bid for Rs 40,000. The police are yet to get accurate details about the sixth suspect, Guru.
Nashik police commissioner Vishwas Nangare-Patil said, “The city police toiled hard for the last 10 days to crack the case and arrest Rajput. The case was complicated as criminals from UP, West Bengal and Gujarat were involved. The three motorcycles were the initial lead in the case. Though they had fake number plates and their engine numbers and chassis were also scratched out, we got forensic analysis to secure more leads in the case.”
The police said the automobile company helped them identify a dealer in Surat through whom one of the motorcycles was first sold. “Then, through sub-dealers and first and second owners of the motorcycle, we finally caught Rajput. During investigations, we got to know that the motorcycle was given to Rajput with Sahu’s reference,” Nangare-Patil said.
Police said all the suspects came to Nashik on May 21 and 22 to conduct the recce of the Muthoot Finance company office. Then again returned to Nashik on June 4 and stayed in the chawl where Gaur was residing. Later, they lived in Sahu’s sister’s house in Nashik.
Nangare-Patil said they were confident of arresting the remaining five suspects soon. The police are planning to book the suspects under the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA).
The robbery attempt was a stark reminder of how vulnerable our financial institutions are, TOI reported on June 16. As an immediate reaction, the police there urged the banks to deploy armed guards, perhaps without realising that there are too many rules that prohibit such a deployment.