BHUBANESWAR: The Commissionerate Police have cracked the April 23 robbery near Kuakhai Bridge and arrested seven members of a gang which had looted Rs 15 lakh from the staffer of Axis Bank’s Bomikhal branch. Of the entire booty, a little over Rs 10 lakh was recovered by the police. The eighth accused is still at large.The gang had been planning the robbery for the past three months and made as many as three attempts. The robbers were lucky fourth time, thanks to the branch officials and their inept cash transfer security planning.During investigation and subsequent interrogation of the accused, police found out that Lomesh Ghadei (22), one of the seven accused, was working with the Bomikhal Branch of Axis Bank. He actually was the mastermind behind the whole thing.The gang had tried to loot cash at least thrice because Lomesh was aware of the cash collection and transfer practice. On a daily basis, the branch would send two men to collect the cash using the same vehicle and around the same time of the day.With full knowledge of the cash movement, the robbers, on one occasion, aborted their attempt when they came across a PCR van, Bhubaneswar DCP Nitinjit Singh said. On the second occasion, the members missed the timing whereas on the third, the full gang was not available to carry out the operation.On the fourth occasion, things fell into place and they managed to pull it off near the Kuakhai Bridge when the collection agent was carrying the cash in the same vehicle, an Indica car, at about 5.30 pm. The cash had been collected from two automobile showrooms located in Phulnakhara and Pahala.Apart from Lomesh, the other six have been identified as Nath Nayak (24), Deep Nayak (20), Santosh Senapati (21), Ayub Khan (19), Bhagabat Dalei (23) and Alok Nayak (22). Lomesh is a resident of Unit IX area.Singh once again urged the banks to maintain the security protocol while transferring cash. Changing a vehicle or informing the local police would minimise the risk which the banks must keep in mind.
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