UDAIPUR: The five masked men who looted a non-banking financial company in Udaipur of gold jewellery worth ₹12 crore and ₹11 lakh in cash were from Bihar and came to the city just 15 days before carrying out the robbery on August 29, the Udaipur police said on Friday after arresting two of the five men.
The two suspects, Prince Kumar (23) and Funtush Kumar (19), were arrested from Nimbaheda area of Udaipur where they were living under assumed identities. Prince Kumar is also wanted in Bihar for killing a policeman.
“The whereabouts of the arrested were known when four police teams comprising more than 100 personnel raided various places in Orissa, Bihar and West Bengal. It was learnt that two are hiding in Nimabheda from there were arrested,” Inspector General of Police, Udaipur Range, Prafful Kumar said on Friday. He added that the five have a criminal record.
On August 29, the five held employees of Manappuram Finance Limited in Udaipur’s Pratap Nagar hostage at its first-floor office and took away the valuables. Their getaway vehicles were two motorcycles taken on rent from Kota about 300km away. They first went to Neemuch, then reached Delhi before moving to Ujjain where they split.
All the looted gold and cash were taken away Guddu, the mastermind who plotted the crime in a Bihar jail where he met some of his partners. The gang moved to Udaipur 15 days prior to the crime, and conducted surveillance for some time before sealing their plan. They stayed in a rented accommodation in the Dabok area of Udaipur under assumed identities, Kumar said.
The two men arrested by the police told interrogators that Guddu took away the loot for safekeeping and the other four were yet to get their share of ₹50 lakh.
Udaipur superintendent of police Vikas Kumar said the two suspects are being interrogated for other details of the robbery. It is also learnt that the gang committed similar crimes in other states. In the preliminary interrogation, the accused are also alleged to have revealed how they deactivated the security alarm system.
