Gang of frequent flyers targeted banks, kingpin lands behind bars

Police have arrested the leader of an Ahmedabad-based gang whose members flew regularly to Delhi and other cities to commit robberies.

The six gang members travelled by air to Delhi, Mumbai, Pune and Hyderbad to rob. They used to send their motorcycles by trucks.

They also had a team of lawyers in Ahmedabad. If they were caught during a robbery, the lawyers flew to the city for ensuring bail, police said on Tuesday.Bharat Bhai Shodasa and his accomplices focused on banks on main roads and recceed for escape routes. 

“Bharat used to visit the banks claiming to be an MNC executive and look for specific targets. He then passed information to his accomplices standing outside,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police (East) Ajay Kumar. They did not use mobile phones during the robbery.

In October 2014, a man named Himmat Bafna had visited ICICI Bank in east Delhi’s Preet Vihar to operate his locker.

He had to attend a wedding function due to which he took diamonds and jewellery worth more than Rs 1.5 crore from the locker.

He was robbed by the gang while returning home.

The gang had also robbed Jaiveer Singh, a supervisor with a Patparganj-based company, in November 2014. Jaiveer had visited the bank to encash a cheque of Rs 3.53 lakh. He was robbed outside the bank.

During investigation, police collected footage of 15 CCTV cameras and found some common faces.

One of the criminals was aged around 50. Photographs were developed from the CCTV footage and was analysed with the criminal dossier system of Delhi Police.“It came to notice that one gang from Ahmedabad was arrested by Rajouri Garden police station personnel in 2013 in a similar incident. The modus operandi and one criminal of over 50 years of age was found similar,” Kumar added.

A police team then visited Ahmedabad in January and March, and circulated the photographs and CCTV footages to Gujarat Police.

They then helped police identify and nab Bharat at Kuber Nagar in Ahmedabad. His accomplices have been identified as Manoj, Uttam, Nikhil, Madhyam and Shashikant.