T.K. Rana, DCP-Law and Order, who camped in Mumbai and played a key role in detecting the gold heist case, said it was a memorable case in his life.
“It was a different experience for me. We searched in small lanes in the slums in Mumbai, Pune and Uttar Pradesh for the accused. Police teams flew to six States in hot pursuit of the dacoits. The cooperation of the police officers of Bengaluru, Chennai, Mumbai, Pune, Rameswaram and other cities helped us in detecting the case,” he said.
As per the directions of City Police Commissioner D. Gautam Sawang, about 100 police personnel, including four ACPs, seven CIs and other officers went to Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka with armed policemen.
“The dacoits planned to escape and share the booty, but never expected the continuous chase by the police. As they dispersed in Guntur after a few minutes after the dacoity, they reached Tamil Nadu, then Bangalore, Mumbai and other places. The police traced that the vehicle driver drew money from an ATM at Renigunta the next day morning (July 12), proceeded towards South and reached Chennai, where we got good leads,” Mr. Rana told The Hindu .
Many of the accused were involved in more than 10 cases and were wanted in Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. They were carrying weapons.
“The gang planned to share the booty in Tirunelveli, but the police foiled it. Then the gang leader Dilip of West Bengal and Santosh of UP planned to meet in Mumbai, where the police had rounded up five dacoits.
Had they shared the jewellery, they would have escaped into their dens. We suspect that the dacoit gang had links with the criminals in Sri Lanka and Nepal,” he said.
The Central Crime Station (CCS), Commissioner’s Task Force (CTF) and other police parties were still camping in UP to nab the remaining gang members. The police are trying to find out whether the gang planned any dacoities in AP and other States and their international links, said Mr. Rana.
