Robber had account in bank

Mumbai: One of the accused in the Navi Mumbai bank robbery case had opened an account in the bank under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana scheme for the poor. The accused used to visit the bank very often and was identified by the police with the help of CCTV footage and was arrested on Saturday.

The Sanpada police on Saturday arrested four members of a gang that looted Rs 3 crore worth jewellery and cash from a bank by breaking into the locker room through a tunnel and looting  30 bank lockers.

One of the accused, who had opened an account in the bank, was identified by bank officials after which the police laid a trap to arrest him. Two of the accused were brought from UP. But the police have yet to recover the stolen money from the accused. Also seven more members are yet to be arrested. DCP crime branch, Tushar Doshi said, “We are yet to arrest all the team members and we will inform everyone once we arrest all of them.”

The Navi Mumbai police on November 13, identified four persons who were a part of a group that burgled a Bank of Baroda branch in Juinagar over the weekend, by digging a 25-feet tunnel to break into the bank’s locker room from an adjacent office that they had hired in May. The gang is said to be from Jharkhand.

Most locker owners are scared and disappointed that the bank could not save their hard earned money. But after hearing about the arrest of four of the accused, they were feeling slightly hopeful about getting their money back.

Sunil Mhatre, who has a locker in the bank said,  “We still have hope that police will recover our money. We will fight to get that money back.”