Hunt on for other gang members who stayed in Maddur as tender coconut vendors

Maddur: Two months after a gang of five thieves that had stolen Rs. 20.62 lakh from an ATM kiosk after breaking open the cash machine with a gas cutter, the Maddur Police have arrested one person from Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh (UP).

The gang has expertise in using gas cutter to open ATM machines and they had spread their network far and wide from UP. They had targeted the ATM at Maddur on KSRTC Depot road.

Police are on the lookout for other gang members who are said to be natives of UP and Haryana. The arrested has been identified as 29-year-old Deepak Tomar alias Kullu. As per information provided by Deepak, the others who are involved in the loot are Ravindra Yadav alias Mangal from Ghaziabad and Saleem alias Chiepha from Mewat in Haryana, Fouji and Raja.  The incident was reported on Apr. 11.

 Police said that they worked as tender coconut vendors and frequently visited Maddur town at the tender coconut market. During the day they carried out tender coconut business and after dark, they would scout for deserted ATM kiosks to loot them. They had taken a house for rent near the market.

Car tail lamps only clue

On the night of the loot, the burglars came in front of the target ATM in a Swift car and as soon as they got in, they sprayed colour paint on the CCTV camera. A team led by Inspector K.N. Harish identified the make of the car with the help of the tail lamps that were recorded on the CCTV fixed outside the ATM kiosk.

An 8-member team was formed and two members from the District Police technical team were also added. Apart from the tail lamps, make of the car and its colour, there was nothing available as a clue.

150 CCTV cameras checked

After committing the crime, the gang members fled to their native States. The Police team checked the footage of over 150 CCTV cameras on the way from Maddur to Mysuru but still did not get any clues. 15 days after starting the investigation, the Police team learnt that a Swift car had entered the road behind Maddur Market days  before the crime.

Following the lead, the Police found out that the house was vacated on Apr. 12 morning, the day after the crime. The landlord informed the Police that a person who claimed to be a tender coconut vendor had taken the house on rent and had stayed in the house only for 10 days.

Trip to Delhi, UP

Acting on leads from informants, coupled with evidence obtained through technical means, the Police later zeroed in on a mobile number which took them to New Delhi based on the address and tower location. Team members spread their net to Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and were desperate for the arrest. Finally, the mobile tower location showed Ghaziabad in UP.

However, it was not easy for the Police to arrest the criminals and they had to camp in Ghaziabad for 10 days. Inspector Harish was finally successful in arresting Deepak Tomar. He was produced in the Ghaziabad Court and was taken to Maddur.  Deepak later spilt the beans and Police identified the remaining members.

Though the Police could recover the gas cutter and some cash, most of the loot is with the other gang members.

Sub-Inspectors Aiyyanagowda, R.B. Umesh, P. Ravi, Mahesh and staff Mahesh, Riyaz Pasha, Guruprasad, Prashanth, Omkarappa, Sharath, Girish, Ravikiran and Lokesh were part of the investigating team.