Hosur gold heist cracked, seven held

KRISHNAGIRI/HYDERABAD: A day after the day-light robbery at a finance firm rocked Hosur town in Tamil Nadu, seven people were arrested early on Saturday, in a joint effort by the Tamil Nadu and the Telangana police.

The gang was nabbed within a span of 18 hours since the time of crime and 25-kg gold, seven firearms, 97 live rounds, a container, a car and 13 mobile phones were seized from them. Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami tweeted later in the day appreciating the State police for speedy justice.

The accused have been identified as Rup Singh Baghal alias B Rup Singh (22), his brother Shankar Singh Baghal (36), J Pavan Kumar Vishkarma (22), J Bhupendhar Majhi (24) and R Vivek Mandal (32), D Teak Ram (55) and P Rajiv Kumar (35). One more accused, Amith alias R Vivek Shukla, is absconding.

Phone call helps police catch robbers

According to sources, the same gang was involved in an attempt to loot another Muthoot Finance branch at Punjab’s Ludhiana, in October 2020. Though the attempt failed, the suspects had fired more than 30 rounds, which killed a civilian. The gang, wearing helmets and masks had barged into a Muthoot Finance branch at Hosur on Friday morning and looted 25 kg gold, and Rs 96,000 at gunpoint. The branch manager who arrived a little later found his employees tied up and had informed the police about the robbery.

According to sources, the police had been perusing CC TV footage and had alerted all inter-State checkpoints. Two of the accused had allegedly made a call using the branch manager’s phone and thrown it away at Bathipura, near Attibelle in Karnataka. This helped the police track down the location using mobile tower. Upon enquiry, they found that a container truck that was stationed there for over three hours had gone missing.

The suspects had hired a Sumo locally and had fled with the container, abandoning the two-wheelers. Based on clues, the police found that the gang had entered Andhra Pradesh, and immediately alerted the AP police. As a precaution, they also alerted the Telangana police. As the suspects were armed, Armed Reserve Units and Ambush teams were also deployed on all entry and exit points. The car was intercepted near Shamshabad, and the container at Medchal, in Telangana.

After a thorough interrogation, the police found a cavity next to the driver’s cabin where the stolen gold and the weapons were kept concealed. Krishnagiri SP, Bandi Gangadhar went to Cyberabad in Telangana, and addressed the press along with Cyberabad Commissioner of Police VC Sajjanar. He said that the accused would be brought to Krishnagiri on Sunday and thanked the Telangana police for their cooperation.

Gang on the run since Oct 2020
According to sources, the same gang was involved in an attempt to loot another Muthoot Finance branch at Ludhiana, in Punjab in October 2020. Though the bid failed, the suspects fired over 30 rounds, killing a civilian