Nyamathi police arrest 6 for bank burglary, recover 17 kg of gold hidden in well

DAVANAGERE: The Nyamathi police have arrested six people and recovered 17 kg of gold which was burgled from the SBI branch in the town about five months ago. This is said to be for the first time that the accused in the bank burglary case, along with the stolen hold, have been arrested.

The SBI branch burglary had been a challenge for the police as the accused had thrown chilli powder at the scene of crime to destroy evidence. The burglary was committed around Deepavali last October when there was a string of bank holidays. Earlier, the Karnataka Bank branch at Arakere village in Nyamathi taluk had been burgled twice and the police have so far not got any leads in the case.

Vijaykumar and Ajay Kumar.

The mastermind of the Nyamathi bank burglary is Vijaykumar, who runs a bakery, with his brother Ajay Kumar. He had applied for Rs 15 lakh loan twice to expand his business, but his applications had been rejected as his CIBIL score was low. Angered by this, he hatched the burglary plan after watching a web series on Netflix and some YouTube videos.

The burglary was executed with minute planning, without using mobile phones or vehicles so as to not leave behind any sort of evidence. The stolen 17 kg of gold kept in a chest and hidden in a dilapidated well at a farm near Usilampatti near Madurai in Tamil Nadu.

The burglars conducted Gadi Chowdamma Ashta Dighbandana puja to their getaway car before and after the burglary and did not share any information even with their family members. The Renault Duster car was paked about 4 km away from the bank. However, the police were able to trace them based on technical evidence.

Inspector General of Police (East) B R Ravikanthe Gowda hailed the efforts of the police in cracking the case. “This has been an exceptional case and all our officers and staff have worked with utmost dedication. The stolen gold was kept in their vehicle for three days before they moved it out. But god doesn’t help criminals. We will give cash prizes and certificates to all the police personnel involved in cracking the case”.

Police Superintendent Uma Prashanth told Public TV, “The police have worked really hard to crack this difficult case as there were no clues at the scene of crime. Our teams visited Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Haryana, Delhi, Warangal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, among other places and collected information. Among other work pressure, our officers have followed up the case for five months. Based on techincal evidence, we have arrested six people and recovered 17 kg of stolen gold”.