Akshay Kumar’s ‘Special 26’ inspires real life heist in Hyderabad

Hyderabad: A real life crime from 1987 inspired a movie in 2013. And now, the movie has inspired a real life crime in 2021. The life-inspires-art-inspires-life sort of cycle began with the 1987 Opera House heist in Mumbai, which was made into a movie, ‘Special 26’, starring Akshay Kumar and Manoj Bajpayee among others. Now, […]

Hyderabad: A real life crime from 1987 inspired a movie in 2013. And now, the movie has inspired a real life crime in 2021.

The life-inspires-art-inspires-life sort of cycle began with the 1987 Opera House heist in Mumbai, which was made into a movie, ‘Special 26’, starring Akshay Kumar and Manoj Bajpayee among others. Now, according to Cyberabad Police, the movie inspired a nine-member gang that posed as Income Tax officials, brandished fake identity cards and decamped with 1.28 kg gold and Rs 2 lakh from Nanakramguda earlier this week.

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Announcing the arrest of five of the gang members on Thursday, Cyberabad Police Commissioner M Stephen Raveendra said the arrested persons — Y Aravind, N Murali Sridhar, P Venkat Rao, Somani Sandeep and P Mohan — had told the police they drew inspiration from ‘Special 26’, in which a gang of tricksters poses as CBI officers and raids politicians and businessmen to steal their black money.

“Aravind and others saw how they could rob people by posing as I-T officials. After getting leads from Jashwanth, who is now absconding, Aravind planned the heist and executed it with others,” the Commissioner said, adding four suspects were yet to be nabbed.

According to the police, on December 13, the suspects went to the house of C Bhagyalaxmi in Nanakramguda and introduced themselves as I-T Department officials and showed identity cards.

“They made Bhagyalaxmi, her three children and driver sit in the hall before opening the almirah and decamping with gold ornaments and cash,” the Commissioner said.

Aravind, Sandeep and Mohan, who were friends running a small eatery in Banjara Hills, got acquainted with Jashwanth, who worked with a real estate firm owned by Bhagyalaxmi’s husband Subramanyam.

“Jashwanth told them about the cash transactions by Subramanyam and gave them his address. After a recce, the gang posed as I-T officials and carried out the offence,” Stephen Raveendra said, adding that they made fake identity cards and used fake number plates on a car for the crime. A few of them had come from Andhra Pradesh and stayed in a lodge at Manikonda before the ‘raid’.

The Gachibowli Police had formed special teams and as the probe was on, the Special Operations Team (Madhapur) caught five of the gang members. Efforts are on to nab the absconding persons.

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