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Chandigarh: Out on bail, bank robber strikes in Maloya
Sandeep, who was out on bail in the last year’s Mohali bank robbery case, and his female accomplice looted a youth at Maloya in Chandigarh after posing as cops on Monday
Out on bail in the last year’s Mohali bank robbery case, a 30-year-old man along with a female accomplice looted a Maloya youth at gunpoint after posing as a cop on Monday. He has been arrested while the woman is still at large, Chandigarh Police said on Tuesday.
The robber has been identified as Sandeep, alias Khurmi, of Sector 38 West. He along with two men had robbed ₹4.8 lakh from an all-woman branch of Punjab National Bank in Mohali on June 17, 2020. At the time, he was out on parole. After his arrest, he was lodged in the Ropar jail, from where he was recently released on bail.
Active in crime since his juvenile years, Sandeep had also escaped from the Amabla jail with help of Lawrence Bishnoi gang members in 2016. He is facing at least 12 cases of robbery, extortion and attempt to murder in Chandigarh and Mohali, said police.
Posed as cops, tried to extort youth
In the fresh case, Sandeep along with his female accomplice forcibly entered the house of the complainant, Priyanshu, in Maloya Colony in the wee hours of Monday.
The two allegedly introduced themselves as Panchkula police officials, and tried to extort money from Priyanshu after claiming that he had been booked for rape and murder.
After Priyanshu, a student who stays with his mother, refused to accompany the suspects or pay any money, the two pointed a pistol at him and made him sign on blank papers. They also robbed him of ₹15,000, a mobile phone, wallet and debit card.
Police managed to arrest Sandeep within a day. They recovered an automatic pistol along with four live cartridges, a fake identity card of the defence ministry, miscellaneous documents related to various departments and police uniform along with a belt and pair of brown shoes besides ATM and PAN cards along with ₹7,740 in cash.
A case of robbery, cheating and criminal intimidation has been registered at the Maloya police station.
