The Hindu : Kerala News : Bank heist: four suspects held

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Kerala

Bank heist: four suspects held

Staff Reporter

57 kg of gold, Rs.5.51 lakh in cash recovered, the police say

More persons at large
Police hopeful of recovering remaining gold, cash

MALAPPURAM: The State police on Thursday arrested four persons allegedly involved in the theft of gold and cash worth nearly Rs.9 crore from the South Malabar Gramin Bank’s Chelembra branch about two months ago.

More than 57 kg of gold and Rs.5.51 lakh in cash were recovered from the accused, the police said. Displaying the recovered booty at the office of the District Superintendent of Police here, Additional Director-General of Police (north zone) K.S. Jangpangi hoped that the remaining gold and cash would be recovered soon.

He said the accused — Joseph alias Jaison alias Babu, 40, (son of Thomas, Vaniyampurakkal House, Ullanad, Kottayam); Shibu alias Ragesh, 26, (son of Antony, Kadavil House, Thakattussery, Ollur); Radhakrishnan, 46, (son of Kunhikrishnan Nair, Nangalath House, Moodadi, Koyilandy); and Kanakeswari (daughter of Damodaran Nambiar, Malol House, Kodanchery, Puramery, Vadakara) — were picked up from Kottooly near Kozhikode. Joseph, the police said, was the mastermind behind theft.

A few more persons were still at large and one of them was directly involved in the heist, the police said.

However, they refused to elaborate on the way they tracked down the accused who had apparently left no clues after looting 80 kg of gold and Rs.24 lakh in cash from the bank on December 30.

The thieves had entered the bank on the first floor by drilling a hole on the roof of the ground floor of the building.

The police had formed a team under Deputy Superintendent of Police (DySP) K.K. Ibrahim, the police said. “We left no stone unturned during the trail,” Superintendent of Police P. Vijayan said.

The probe team included DySPs M.R. Maniyan and A.P. Shoukathali; Circle Inspectors P. Vikraman and M.P. Mohanachandran; and sub-inspectors M. Anwar, Babu K. Thomas and A.J. Johnson. Mr. Vijayan said it was a classic case of team work.

“The theft was the first of its kind in Kerala. It was the lack of security at the bank that prompted the accused to carry out the theft,” said Mr. Jangpangi.

He said that it was the first major theft case in the State in which more than 40 per cent of the loot was recovered.

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