Panipat bank robbery cracked, six arrested

Karnal, June 17

The Panipat police claimed to have solved a robbery case with the arrest of six persons on Sunday. On June 14, four armed men robbed nearly Rs 4 lakh from Mitra Branch of the PNB at Baljit Nagar in Panipat.

The police also recovered a countrymade pistol, a live cartridge, a stolen bike and the car used in the crime from them. On Monday, the accused were produced in court, which sent them to three-day police remand.

The accused were identified as Prashant (28) of Purkhas, Ajay (23) of Karad, who are currently residing in Shekhpura, Sahil (21) of Pugthala, Prince (23) of Jua, Mohit (29) of Kundli in Sonepat and Keshav (18) of Ghoop Singh Nagar in Panipat.

On the complaint of Harish, who is runs the branch, the police had registered a case at the Chandni Bagh police station on June 14.

SP Ajit Singh Shekhawat said at the time of the robbery, Harish was at his brother Pardeep’s medical store situated adjacent to the branch. When Harish got to know about the incident, he and Pradeep reached the spot and saw four masked men held Harish’s employee, identified as Vikas, hostage and were putting money in a bag, he added.

The SP said when they tried to intervene, one of the robbers attacked Pradeep with an ice-breaking tool. Thereafter, the robbers fled the scene, leaving their bike behind.

“We had constituted six teams to trace the accused. The robbers had abandoned their bike at the crime scene and it came to notice that the bike was stolen in the Gannaur area of Sonepat on June 5,” said the SP.

On Sunday evening, a CIA-3 police team acted on a tip-off and arrested six persons, including the gang leader, from Jua village in Sonepat. The suspects admitted to planning the heist with Prashant, who was their leader. Prashant, Ajay, Sahil, and Prince became friends in the Sonepat jail and they were released on bail.

Keshav had an account in the branch and knew that the cash was kept in the bank. Keshav informed Prashant about it and they planned the robbery. On June 13, Keshav and Prashant did a recce of the branch.

On June 14, they reached Panipat on a bike and in a car. They parked the car at the Sector 25 bypass, leaving Keshav and Mohit behind. Prashant, Ajay, Sahil, and Prince reached Baljit Nagar and executed the robbery.

During interrogation, the accused also confessed to three other vehicle robberies.