PATNA: Police arrested two men from a rented room at Nehru Nagar under Patliputra police station area here on Monday night for allegedly looting Rs 9 lakh after shooting a guard in front of an ATM kiosk at Alpana market in Patliputra Colony on March 19. The guard, Lal Saheb Singh, later died.
Addressing media persons on Tuesday, City SP (central) Vinay Tiwari said the arrested youths Aditya Ranjan alias Kanhai Singh and Vicky Kumar are from Sitamarhi.
The SP said that Rs 5.25 lakh of the looted amount, two country-made semi-automatic pistols, seven live cartridges, a motorbike and clothes worn at the time of the crime were recovered from their possession.
"Aditya is a notorious wanted criminal accused in several cases like kidnapping, extortion, loot and dacoity registered with different police stations of Sitamarhi and neighbouring districts," Tiwari said, adding, Aditya has been evading arrest there.
The SP said Sitamarhi police have been informed of the arrest and added that both accused have been jailed multiple times in the past.
SP Tiwari said it was Aditya who had fired at the guard which resulted in his death at a hospital.
"Police have the pistol used in the crime, pellet recovered from the guard's body and an empty cartridge ejected at the spot would be sent to the forensic laboratory for ballistic matching to establish that the same gun was used. Police also have CCTV camera footages of the crime in which they are visible wearing the clothes recovered from their room," he said.
The SP said two more associates of Aditya were still evading arrest and the rest of the looted money was in their possession. "They have fled Patna. Aditya and Vicky were also planning to escape from the state," he said.
Tiwari said Aditya had hired a room at Nehru Nagar two months ago with a forged identity card. "The bike recovered from them was looted in Sitamarhi," he said.
The SP said it was the gang’s first crime in Patna. "Their motive was to loot cash at the time it was taken out of cash vans for feeding in ATM kiosks. They were trailing the cash van targeted on March 19 for at least two days," he said.