The city police on Monday arrested two persons on the charges of robbing ₹9.59 lakh cash from an ATM in Sundarnagar in the city.
The arrested have been identified as Samarjot Singh (32), a native of Punjab, and Jafer Sadik (28), a native of Kerala. Both are reported to be habitual offenders and had become friends in a prison.
DCP (Crimes) V. Suresh Babu said that the duo came to the city on October 16 from Bengaluru in a flight and stayed in a hotel with the plan to loot cash from ATMs. The duo reportedly hired a two-wheeler to conduct recee in the city to identify potential ATMs to commit the crime.
Using the gas cutter and other equipment, the duo allegedly cut open the safe of the SBI ATM and stole the cash in the early hours on October 21 and left for Bengaluru on October 22. The duo was caught by police in Bengaluru.
Mr. Suresh Babu said that they had recovered ₹1.32 lakh cash, mobile phones and other goods worth ₹2.10 lakh from the duo.
The duo had earlier committed offences at an ATM in Hyderabad where they robbed about ₹16 lakh and in Bengaluru to the tune of ₹8 to ₹10 lakh.
According to the DCP, the duo were habituated to flamboyant lifestyle and the recovered goods include a leather waist belt that cost around ₹10,000, one shoe around ₹23,000 and one jogging suit that cost around ₹8,000.
It is learnt that about ₹3 lakh was transferred to the account of Samarjot’s brother and the cash has been frozen by the bank, on request from the city police.
The case was cracked within 35 hours, despite the accused being from out of the State and fleeing the city within 24 hours of committing the offence.
According to the Mr. Suresh Babu, evidences gathered from the spot and some CC TV footages, helped them solve the case.
On the date of the offence, the police had come to know that the offence was carried out by an outstation gang and modus operandi matched with the offences carried out in Hyderabad and Bengaluru. This was confirmed from CC TV footages at the airport.
Special teams
Commissioner of Police Manish Kumar Sinha formed special teams and one team was sent to Bengaluru. The case was cracked with the help of police teams from Anantapur and Bengaluru.
