Rs 18 lakh robbery case cracked, three held

Tribune News Service

Dehradun, May 30

A joint team of Dehradun and Tehri police in association with Special Operations Group (SOG) cracked a robbery case with the arrest of three persons here today. Of the looted Rs 18 lakh, the police have recovered Rs 10 lakh.

The accused had robbed Ved Prakash Sharma, manager of a branch of Punjab National Bank, on Friday. The incident took place when he was going in his car from Naogon (Uttarkashi) to the PNB main branch in Dehradun to deposit Rs 18 lakh. Sharma had complained that the accused assaulted him and also opened fire on him before fleeing with the cash.

SSP Sadanand Datte had formed several police teams to crack the case. The police put the mobile phones of the suspects on surveillance. Datte said the police got a tip-off and arrested Manjesh Kumar and Navneet Kumar, who were roaming in a car near Dharmawala. It was the same vehicle they had used to commit the crime. Their accomplice Vishal was nabbed on Sunday. The police seized a country-made pistol with two live cartridges and a revolver with four live cartridges from them.

Manjesh is said to be the kingpin. He told police that Navneet and Vishal were childhood friends and the latter was a Class-IV employee at a PNB branch Uttarkashi. The accused had planned the robbery after Vishal provided him information about the target. The police investigation revealed that Manjesh was a hardcore criminal as over 12 cases were already registered against him in several cities.

Garhwal IG Sanjay Gunjyal and SSP Sadanand Datte announced a cash reward of Rs 5,000 and Rs 2,500, respectively, for the police team for solving the case.