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Civil lines loot case: Police nab four looters after encounter in Prayagraj
Four members of an inter-state gang of looters were arrested in Prayagraj, India, after looting cash worth ₹7 lakh from a hospital employee. Two of the arrested looters were injured in a crossfire with police. Cash, firearms, and other items were recovered. The arrested looters admitted to committing other loots in different states.
The joint teams of the special operations group (SOG) and Jhunsi police on Sunday arrested four members of an inter-state gang of looters involved in looting cash worth ₹7 lakh from a hospital employee in the Civil Lines area on September 12. The arrested looters also committed another loot in Sitapur district after fleeing from Prayagraj. Two of the arrested looters received bullet injuries during cross-firing with a police team and were admitted to the hospital for treatment. Cash, firearms, ammunition, chilli powder etc were recovered from them. The arrested looters belong to Bihar and roam around in different states to commit loot, police officials said.
The commissioner of police Prayagraj Ramit Sharma said an account manager at a private hospital, Aniruddh Yadav and his aide Prahlad Singh had gone to a bank in Civil Lines to change currency notes. Prahlad was with the bag containing cash when unidentified looters snatched the bag and fled.
Five police teams were constituted to work out the case. The footage from the ICCC cameras revealed that there were four looters on motorcycles were involved in the loot. Police teams scanned footage of CCTV cameras installed under Operation Trinetra which revealed that the looters had come from Varanasi. A police team was sent to Varanasi where the bikes used in the crime were found abandoned near Cantonment Railway Station. Further investigations revealed that looters stayed at a hotel using forged identity documents.
On Sunday morning, police launched a checking drive on the Pratapgarh border following a tip-off about some looters. However, four suspects on the bikes dodged Nawabganj police and fled towards Prayagraj. The looters came towards Jhunsi where a police team under SHO Jhunsi Upendra Pratap Singh asked them to surrender. However, they opened fire on the police team. During the cross-firing, one of them was injured but both were arrested. The injured looter was identified as Kishan Yadav of the Rautara area of Katihar district and Kashi Banjara of the Kodha area of Katihar in Bihar.
The other two looters also tried to escape and opened fire on police. However, in cross-firing with Civil lInes police one looter Niraj Banjara received injuries in his leg and his aide Shankar Yadav was also nabbed after a chase. The arrested looters confessed to having been involved in loot of ₹7 lakh in Civil Lines. They said that they fled to Lucknow after the crime and committed another loot in Sitapur district.
The arrested looters informed police that they used to travel on bikes to different states including Assam, Uttar Pradesh, Orissa etc and commit looting and other crimes. They frequently change the hotels and their mobile SIM cards to avoid being traced.
A member of the gang carries out a recce inside the banks and informs his aides about the target while the others stay outside.
The police recovered ₹8.35 lakh cash, four country-made firearms, some live cartridges, 8 SIM cards, 2 bikes, 8 aadhar cards, 4 packets of itching powder and 4 packets of chilli powder. The accused Niraj and Kishan have deposited cash worth ₹6.30 lakh in the bank accounts of their wives. The bank accounts have been frozen and soon the remaining cash will also be recovered.
