Two months on, 4 held for Ambala bank heist

Ambala, November 23

Nearly two months after a burglary at Ambala Central Cooperative Bank in the Baldev Nagar area, the Ambala police today claimed to have arrested four persons in the case.

The suspects were identified as mastermind Sobind Kumar, alias Sobit, Pawan Kumar, Dhurv, all residents of Bihar, and Rahul of Delhi. The police also recovered jewellery worth Rs 17 lakh besides Rs 5.50 lakh, a double-barrel gun, over 12 live cartridges and the car used in the crime.

September 25 incident

• The incident had come to light on September 25 after burglars broke into Ambala Central Cooperative Bank in the Baldev Nagar area and made off with jewellery and other valuables. They had drilled a hole in a wall of the bank and cut the RCC wall of the strong room with a cutter. They had cut 25 of the 32 lockers and stole the valuables lying in them.

The incident had come to light on September 25 after burglars broke into the bank and made off with jewellery and other valuables. They had drilled a hole in a wall of the bank and cut the RCC wall of the strong room with a cutter. They had cut 25 of the 32 lockers and stole the valuables lying in them.

Ambala SP Jashandeep Singh Randhawa said, “The CIA-1 unit had been working on the case and over nearly 38 days, raids were conducted in Bihar, West Bengal, Nepal, Darjeeling and Siliguri.”

He said on October 14, Pawan Kumar was arrested and his 10-day police remand was obtained. During the remand, he confessed to the crime and disclosed the names of his accomplices, the police said. On November 7, Sobind Kumar was arrested from West Bengal. After his 12-day remand got over, he was produced in court today, which sent him to judicial custody.

On November 18, the police arrested Dhurv. He is currently on police remand. He was one of the persons to whom some of the stolen gold items were sold. Yesterday, the police nabbed Rahul. He too is in judicial remand.

The SP said, “Six persons were involved in the crime. They sold some of the jewellery and distributed the remaining among themselves.” As per the police, the suspects used to target cooperative banks. They had conducted recce of about 55 to 58 cooperative banks in Ambala, Kaithal, Jind, Panipat, Sonepat, Karnal, Yamunanagar and Rohtak.

Before targeting the Ambala bank, the suspects had stayed in rented accommodations in Sonepat and Kurukshetra. After committing the crime, they stayed in Patna Sahib, Kharagpur, Kolkata, Bihar and other locations.

They were also involved in a theft at Sonepat Central Cooperative Bank, Mundlana, from where they had stolen cash, a double-barrel gun and DVR of CCTV cameras, and a burglary at Yamunangar Central Cooperative Bank, Chamrori, in September from where they stole cash.