Andhra Pradesh - Anantapur   

Nine held, Rs. 33 lakh recovered in theft case

Prize catch: Currency and jewellery recovered from the gang members in Anantapur on Friday.

ANANTAPUR: In a significant recovery, the district police on Friday arrested nine persons allegedly involved in looting huge cash and jewellery from the house of the owner of a beedi-making company in Tadipatri in November last year. The gang allegedly committed the crime by posing as vigilance officers.

A cash of Rs. 23.6 lakh, in different denominations, jewellery worth Rs. 1.4 lakh and bonds taken from LIC, ICICI and small savings worth Rs. 8 lakh were seized from their possession.

The gang was said to have already spent huge amount to repay their debts, help friends and indulge in lavish spending.

Giving details to newspersons, additional SP G. Vijaykumar stated that N. Khadar Basha, correspondent of a private school in Tadipatri, was a close acquaintance of the owner of the beedi-rolling company S. Mahabub Basha living in Raichur street in the same town.

Khadar Basha, a post-graduate in mathematics from SKU, hatched a plan to overcome his financial problems by looting money from the rich beedi-maker. Along with N. Vijayabhaskar, a dhaba owner in Tadipatri, he hired eight youth from Hindupur for implementing the plan.

Accordingly, on November 11 last year, eight persons forced their way into Mahabub Basha’s house, when he was away, posing as vigilance officers.

After searching the house as per the information given by Khaleel, a servant in the house, the ‘team’ decamped with the haul. The beedi-maker did not approach the police thinking that he would face more problems. On learning that a person by name Sudhakar was spending lavishly Hindupur, rural Inspector Ramakrishnaiah picked up Sudhakar and his friends and the entire episode came to light during interrogation.

Except for Khaleel who is still at large, the rest of the gang members were arrested.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Gang involved in theft of power conductors held
CPI, AIYF activists stage protest against arrests
Red sanders seized
Nine held, Rs. 33 lakh recovered in theft case

Copyright © 2008, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu