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Bhubaneswar: On April 16, Commissioner of Police (CP) Saumendra Priyadarshi elaborated on the events leading to the arrest of two persons, including a Bangladesh national, from Bengaluru in the alleged ATM theft in Lingipur area, on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar.
The court forwarding report, however, negates this claim.
While producing the accused in court, the Commissionerate Police said that raids in Bengaluru had proved futile. After analysis of the CDR, they came to know that the accused had reached Bhubaneswar and were preparing to board a train at the railway station. “Immediately, I along with other staff proceed to Master Canteen railway station and apprehended them,” the investigating officer mentioned in the report.
The report further said that no security guard was deputed at the ATM.
The arrested, Khokan Molla (35) of Bangladesh and Mijanur Rehaman Molla of West Bengal, along with four others had uprooted the cash dispensing machine of SBI, weighing more than three quintals using gas cutters on the intervening night of April 4 and 5 and carried it in a stolen vehicle to Daya river bed before decamping with over Rs 20.30 lakh.
The other accused, identified as Nuru Islam, Mamuun Khan, Rafik Gulu ana Raju, had arrived in Odisha capital 15 days in advance. Khokan crossed the border and reached Kolkata, where he met Mijanur, and they reached here on April 2 by bus, the report said and the CP had also mentioned the same.
Saumendra Priyadarshi, however, said that the ATM looters were apprehended from the Karnataka capital after Commissionerate Police traced their whereabouts on basis of CCTV footage and inputs from SARAI, a mobile application. A team led by Special Squad ACP Sanjeev Satpathy left for Bengaluru on April 10 and nabbed them after searching 30 hotels, he said.
Also Read: How Commissionerate Police Tracked Down Bangladeshi Gang Involved In Bhubaneswar ATM Theft
Stating that the cops searched the hostels by foot, he said it was tough on their part to trace the accused in a populated city like Bengaluru.
Check his press briefing here:
