Accused of looting over ₹3 crore from banks in eastern India, dacoit nabbed after 3 years from Dhanbad

The dacoit, Amrendra Kumar Madhav, along with his gang members, was wanted in Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal and Chhattisgarh for alleged bank heists.

One of the most wanted dacoits in eastern India was arrested on Monday from Dhanbad for allegedly carrying out several bank robberies and looting ₹3.15 crore in cash over the past three years.

Dacoit Amrendra Kumar Madhav in police custody. He was wanted in Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal and Chhattisgarh for alleged bank heists. bi (Santosh Kumar / HT Photo)

A team of the Bihar special task force (STF) brought Amrendra Kumar Madhav alias Madhav Das alias Sujit Kumar Mittal to Gaya. He is accused of leading a gang of dacoits.

Madhav along with his gang members was wanted in Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal and Chhattisgarh for alleged bank heists. After his release from a West Bengal jail in 2015, he is said to have formed the gang.

Inspector-general (operations) Kundan Krishnan confirmed the arrest. Madhav was arrested from Swami Sahajanand Nagar in Dhanbad. The STF team also recovered a laptop, nine cell phones, property-related documents and a locker from him.

Madhav, a resident of Pahra village in Gaya, had served six years in jail in West Bengal for bank robberies. Before this, he was jailed in Jharkhand and Bihar for similar offences.

During interrogation, he revealed the names of his gang members, including Teny Yadav (Siwan), Amit Das, Binaya alias Ajay, Uday Das, Yogendra Das, Krishna Mahto (Saran), Surinra Singh, and Rahul Singh.

Madhav’s latest bank heist came in July when he and his henchmen looted ₹8.47 lakh in cash and gold items weighing 17.79 kg from an Indian Bank branch in Odisha’s Angul district. Before decamping with the booty, they locked in the bank employees.

On June 16, the gang targeted Indian Overseas Bank in Odisha’s Rourkela and decamped with ₹44 lakh.

In a similar robbery on April 6, Madhav’s gang armed with pistol and carbines entered Andhra Bank in Angul and cleaned the vaults of ₹22.79 lakh in cash and gold jewellery weighing 2.9kg.