Three held in bank robbery case; one at large

Visakhapatnam: The police cracked the Andhra Pradesh Grameena Vikas Bank, Anakapalle branch robbery case and arrested three of the four among the prime accused here on Monday. The police also recovered 1.8 kg gold out of the total 3.175 kg stolen gold from the accused. Another accused is still at large.

The police got a break in the case with the help of finger prints collected from the scene of the offence. The investigation team led by DSP M Venkata Ramana and Inspector S Vidyasagar arrested the three accused.

Giving out details of the case and progress of the investigation at a press conference, Superintendent of Police (Visakhapatnam Rural) Rahul Dev Sharma said that one professional welder, one electrician and a lorry driver looted the bank in two attempts on November 4 and 5. The four-member gang after doing recce found that there was no security guard to the branch, which was close to the national high for an easy escape.

The gang after breaking the locks entered into the bank and with the help of the gas cutting machine, they opened the lockers and stole the gold ornaments. The accused identified as Suresh Kasirao Uma alias Sagara Deshmukh, a resident of Kamalapur of Maharashtra, Gangadhar Gaud alias Sadashiva of Raichur district of Karnataka and Sagar Arunrao of Maharashtra. Another accused Biswas Gulab Singan of Maharashtra is still in dark.

After hiring a vehicle in Odisha and they came to Anakapalle where they selected the Grameena Vikas Bank branch for robbery. They chalked out a plan to commit the offence on October 4 and 5 as Saturday and Sunday were bank holidays. However, in the first attempt due to the shortage of the gas, they failed and again they came to the bank on next day after procuring the gas cylinder from Rajahmundry. With the gas cutter they opened the chest after about four hours long exercise. While they were cutting the chest, due to the heat about 500 gms of gold ornaments were melted, SP Rahul Dev Sharma said.

Taking precautions, the gang cut the connections of the CC TV cameras and also electricity. While leaving the premises, the gang also removed the hard disks of the computers. On November 6 morning, the bank officials lodged a complaint and clues team rushed to the spot and collected some finger prints.

During in the investigation, the finger prints matched with the known offender Gangadhar Gaud. With the help of the information, the investigation chased the case and arrested the Gangadhar Gaud at Kurupam market area. Later, the police arrested the other two accused, the SP said and added that investigation is still going on to nab another offender and to remaining gold ornaments.

Man roughed up for assaulting disabled girl S.Kota (Vizianagaram): Locals of S.Kota village in Vizianagaram district have thrashed a person for allegedly sexually assaulting a physically challenged girl on Monday and handed him over to the police.K Apparao aged 45 years has been working as a sweeper at K. K. Kota Panchayat of S.Kota mandal has allegedly raped a crippled girl aged around 12 years in S. Kota. Locals have gathered there and dragged him on the road and banged him like anything and handed to police. Sub-Inspector of Police Mohammad Maroof has registered a case and took up investigation.