The Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the ATM robberies in the State will reach Kottayam with the two key accused in the early hours of Friday.
The team has boarded the train from Delhi with the accused Haneef Khan, 37, and Nazeem Akbar, 24, who were arrested earlier this week from Rajasthan and Haryana respectively. They are likely to be produced in the Judicial First Class Magistrate Court on Saturday and remanded. The police remain hopeful of getting their custody by next week.
Decks were cleared for their transfer to the State after their custody was secured from the Delhi Metropolitan Court. Another accused, Pappu Palsingh aka Pappy, who remains lodged in Tihar Jail after being arrested by the Delhi Police in a motorcycle theft case, will be brought here on securing a production warrant from a Thripunithura court.
The six-member investigation team led by T. Uthamdas, Inspector of Police, Hill Palace, and T. Raneesh, Sub Inspector, Kottayam East, has been touring the north Indian States of Rajasthan, Haryana, and Delhi for over a week now. The remaining three accused of the gang have been identified and traced to Haryana.
Five cases registered
A total of five cases have been registered against the accused spread over the three districts of Ernakulam, Thrissur, and Kottayam. The cases in connection with the looting of ₹25 lakh and ₹10 lakh from the ATMs have been registered at the Hill Palace police station and Koratty police station respectively, while one attempted ATM robbery each within the limits of the Kuravilangad and Kalamassery police station and a vehicle theft have been registered by the Chingavanam police. Their custody will be secured by the police from the courts for interrogation and evidence collection.
According to sources, all the accused are either drivers or cleaners of trucks used to transport new vehicles to Kerala. Illiterate and hardened criminals with several theft cases against them, they are also known to be good at long hours of night driving. Data regarding their criminal background is being collected. Pappy alone is an accused in more than 15 cases registered across various north Indian States.
All the accused have been slapped with IPC Sections 461 (Dishonestly breaking open receptacle containing property), 380 (Theft in dwelling house, etc), 457 (Lurking house-trespass or house-breaking by night in order to commit offence punishable with imprisonment), and Section 34 (Acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention). They will be subjected to detailed interrogation after securing their custody.
