The Ulsoorgate police arrested a gang of six well educated inter-State dacoits and recovered Rs 6.20 lakh in cash, one revolver and eight bullets from them.
Four from Kerala -- Krishnadas alias Shivashankar Nair (27) and Keerthi alias Shashidhar (22), both from Thiruvananthapuram district, and Aneesh alias Jayadhar Nair (24) and Jeevan G N alias Sharatchandra (29), both from Kollam district -- and two from Kodagu district, Vijay K N alias K M Nanjappa (26) of Nakur in Somavarpet taluk and Francis Xavier (23) of Madikeri, made up the gang.
Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Gopal Hosur told reporters here on Saturday that the court would be requested to extend their custody -- which expires on June 14 -- to at least 15 days. “We are trying to ascertain the involvement of the accused in several criminal cases,” he added.

Eye for detail
Regarding the modus operandi of the accused, Mr Hosur said the accused would make elaborate plans before ‘striking’. Their favourite targets are businessmen, builders and jewellers. They would first list out the potential customers and then keep painstaking vigil on banks, business establishments and jewellry shops, as the case may be, and collect details of their day-to-day functioning, so that they could “properly time” their strike.
 But, of course, not averse to make the most of other ‘sitting’ targets. For example, they would create fake accident scenes before cars and two-wheelers and then, brandishing a revolver, snatch valuables from their drivers and passengers. “They have been operating fearlessly in the City for the past few months,” Mr Hosur added.

Nabbed at cinema
It was on a tip-off that the police arrested Krishnadas, Jeevan and Aneesh when they were watching a movie in Anjali theatre near Pulimood junction in Tiruvananthapuram on June 6. Based on their information, the police arrested Francis and Keerthi on June 7, the JCP stated.
Vijay and Francis were involved in a broad daylight dacoity in the City on May 31 in which  Rajesh Kumar, a real estate accountant, and his car driver Vijay were robbed of Rs 1.20 crore the latter had just withdrawn from ICICI Bank.
But one of the cash bags, containing Rs 1 crore, fell on the road as the duo fled the scene. They managed to escape with one bag containing Rs 10 lakh. The money was supposed to have been siphoned off to their accomplices in Kerala.
Commissioner of Police N Achutha Rao has announced certificates of appreciation to the team members, he added.