Bengaluru Police have arrested three persons for looting Rs 34 lakh from ATM kiosks in Maharashtra. The trio who were staying at a posh hotel was out to leave the city in a Delhi-bound train the same night they were nabbed.
The three youth were identified as – Rakesh Subhash Pawar, 24, Nayan Vijay Bansali, 24 and Jyotish Chandilala Gupta, 22 – all residents of Mumbai. During the interrogation, the trio confessed to the looting of Rs 34 lakh from the ATMs in Mumbai, Kolegaon and Sonar Pada on May 26.
Police said that Pawar worked as a custodian with a private cash logistics company operating from Mumbai and Thane. The other accused were his friends. Using the passwords he had access to, Rakesh easily withdrew Rs 34 lakh from the three ATMs.
The incident came to light when the Cubbon Park police visited the hotel in Lavelle road in Bengaluru on Monday afternoon following a complaint from the hotel staff that the trio has been staying in the hotel for over a month.
The hotel staff said the men used to spend the entire day in the room. But in the evening, they would book cabs and head out to the city. They used to visit high-end pubs in the Central Business District.
Moreover, the tariff for the room that they had booked was Rs 4,500 per day and the total bill was about Rs 2,25,000. They had paid only Rs 1.75 lakh when they were caught.
At the time of arrest, of the Rs 34 lakh loot, they had only Rs 4 lakh left. The rest of the money was spent on alcohol and women, the police said, according to a TOI report.
The police also found three pricey mobile phones, each worth Rs 60,000, five gold rings and many liquor bottles in the hotel room.
Soon after the robbery in May, the trio went to Delhi in a flight. That was their first air travel. They visited Jammu and Kashmir, Kullu-Manali, Amritsar and Goa. After travelling to these places, they arrived in Bengaluru on June 23 and checked into the hotel from which they have been arrested.
Further, DCP Chandragupta stated that they have contacted the Mumbai Police and informed them about the same. A special team would arrive soon to take the accused with them, he added.
