Thirteen days after the robbery at a bank ATM centre in Patelkunta of Kukatpally and shooting down of a security guard, the Cyberabad police on Wednesday arrested two youngsters in the sensational daylight crime.
The prime accused Ajeet Kumar, 23, and his associate Mukesh Kumar, both from Bihar State, were picked up from their room in Gundlapochampally, Cyberabad Police Commissioner V.C. Sajjanar told a press conference. Interrogation revealed that the two accused had earlier committed four crimes including robbing a person of ₹1.95 lakh at gunpoint.
Ajeet had tried to rob a bank cashier by assaulting him with an iron rod in Dundigal in 2018, the Commissioner said. He was arrested and remanded in judicial custody in that case. After coming out on bail, he went to his village in Bihar. He returned to Hyderabad in 2020 and started working in a packaging company. Having been addicted to liquor, he wanted to make money by hook or crook. He secured a country-made pistol with five live rounds by sending ₹ 30,000 online to his friend Mukesh in Bihar. Mukesh joined hands with him to commit offences. Ajeet test fired the pistol in the forest near Gandimaisamma area, the Commissioner explained.
The duo committed their first robbery using the country-made short firearm on the night of April 16. They barged into the office of Laxmi Money Transfer Services in Qutbullahpur. They took away an iphone and ₹1.95 lakh from the office owner at gunpoint. While Ajeet kept ₹1.15 lakh of the looted money for himself, Mukesh took the remaining sum as his share.
On March 24 and April 26, they stole two Pulsar motorcycles. On April 29, they noticed a vehicle used for loading cash in bank ATM centres. They followed that vehicle and closely watched how the staff were taking out the cash from the vehicle and loading the same in the ATM centre machine. After loading cash in an ATM centre near BJP office, the vehicle reached another ATM centre in Patelkunta.
While three staffers stepped out of the vehicle and walked inside the ATM centre carrying currency bundles of ₹12 lakh, security guard Ali Baig stood guard outside. Ajeet, who wore a helmet, got off the bike and lunged at the security guard, threatening him with the pistol.
The guard, an ex-serviceman, tried to grab the pistol when Ajeet fired at him. Alerted by the gunfire, the three staffers came out. Ajeet fired two more rounds at them, resulting in injuries to one of them. Meanwhile, Mukesh collected ₹ 5 lakh from the ATM centre. The duo sped away on their bike. They hid in their room and were planning to flee Hyderabad when police caught them.
