Dehradun: The Uttarakhand Police has identified the two main accused belonging to the notorious Subodh gang that carried out a daylight robbery in a Reliance Jewellery showroom here recently and announced a reward of Rs 2 lakh each for information leading to their arrest.
Uttarakhand DGP Ashok Kumar said the police are investigating the robbery case on priority.
The robbers entered the Reliance Jewellery showroom located in front of St. Joseph’s School on the city’s busiest Rajpur Road around 10.30 am on November 9. They held the showroom staff at gunpoint and escaped with diamond and gold jewellery estimated to be worth Rs 15-20 after stuffing those in bags.
The audacious heist created a stir in the city as the State Foundation Day celebrations were being held at the police lines here at the time of the robbery with President Droupadi Murmu attending the function.
Dehradun Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Ajai Singh said the police has announced a reward of Rs 2 lakh each on Prince Kumar and Vikram Kushwaha, the two main accused in the case who are both residents of Dilawarpur village in Bihar’s Vaishali district. Cases of murder, robbery, kidnapping and other serious crimes are registered against the duo.
They are also wanted in the robbery of Rs 14 crore that took place at the Reliance Jewellery showroom in Sangli, Maharashtra on June 14 this year, Singh said.
They are dreaded criminals and raids are being conducted in Bihar and other states by several police teams to arrest them, the SSP said.
The police officer said a case has been registered against Prince Kumar for allegedly shooting dead Luv Kumar Singh, husband of Poonam Devi, the head of his Dilawarpur village, along with his associates in June 2020, while Vikram Kushwaha has been booked for kidnapping a man identified as Subodh Paswan and firing at villagers who came to save him.
Singh said two co-accused who helped in the incident have also been arrested. Rohit, the accused who was funding the accused, was arrested from Ambala while Vishal Kumar was arrested for providing logistics.
Police remand of gang leader Subodh Kumar was taken by Latur Police of Maharashtra and during that time, the Dehradun Police team sent to interrogate him got many important pieces of information.
Singh said Subodh used to transfer money to the accused from inside the jail during the incident. Information has been received that even before the Dehradun incident, money was transferred in the accounts of the accused involved in the incident.
During interrogation, it was revealed that before carrying out any incident, the accused used to park different vehicles at a distance of 40-50 km and the drivers were allowed to take only two-three persons or the goods given by them to drop them at a predetermined location. They were not given any other information.
The accused were also not told anything other than each other’s name and their role in the incident, so that if anyone was caught, he would not be able to give any further information about the others, the SSP said.
The gang used to get cash by selling the looted jewellery in Nepal at 70 per cent of the price and after they would divide the amount among themselves later. The Subodh gang has allegedly targeted Reliance showrooms, Manappuram Gold and Muthoot Finance branches in states such as West Bengal, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan, getting away with jewellery worth crores of rupees. This gang also robbed Rs 90 lakh in cash and gold worth Rs 30 lakh from Axis Bank in Bhiwadi, the SSP said. —PTI
