Warangal SBI Robbery: Three held, jewellery worth Rs.1.84 crore recovered

The robbery at the State Bank of India in Warangal had left the police baffled as the robbers looted 19 kg of gold ornaments, worth around Rs.13.61 crore, from the strongroom

Warangal: In a major breakthrough in the robbery in the State Bank of India (SBI)’s branch at Rayaparthy on November 18, the Warangal police arrested three members of the seven-member gang from Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra on Friday. The police seized 2.520 kg of gold ornaments worth Rs.1.84 crore, a car and Rs.10,000 from the accused.

The bank robbery had left the police baffled as the robbers looted 19 kg of gold ornaments, worth around Rs.13.61 crore, from the strongroom. The bank heist, considered the biggest in recent times in Telangana, prompted the police to deploy multiple teams to nab the robbers.

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The three arrested persons were identified as Ansari Ahmed (34) and Shakir Khan alias Bole Khan (28) from Shahbazpur village in Budan Pur taluka and Himanshu Bigam Chand (30) of Motala village in Buldhana district of Uttar Pradesh.

Addressing a press conference here on Friday, Commissioner of Police Amber Kishor Jha said more than ten special teams led by West Zone DCP Rajamahendra Nayak, Wardhannapet ACP Narsaiah, City Crime Station ACP Bhojaraju, and Narsampet ACP Kiran Kumar were on the job, scanning various parts of the country and collecting information on the movement of the accused.

Mohammed Nawab Hasan, the prime accused, who was still absconding, came from Uttar Pradesh a few days before the theft and conducted reconnaissance on banks and bank security arrangements in remote areas of the State. Later, along with the other gang members from UP and Maharashtra, he reached Hyderabad and rented a house. The gang first collected information about banks in remote areas of the State through Google Maps and identified the SBI branch in Rayaparthy mandal headquarters as a suitable location. On the night of November 18, they reached the outskirts of Rayaparthi from Hyderabad in a car.

Later, they reached the SBI Bank at 11 pm through the fields and broke in by cutting the window with a gas cutter, the Commissioner said, adding that the members cut the bank’s security alarm and the wires of the CCTV cameras. They broke the locks of the bank’s strong room, opened three lockers using the gas cutters stole gold ornaments worth Rs. 13.61 crore. Before leaving, the gang decamped with the digital video recorder (DVR) to prevent police from identifying them through CCTV footage. After the theft, the accused returned to the rented house in Hyderabad and left for Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra, he said.