After a few unknown persons looted two ATMs of a nationalised bank in Kalyan on Sunday, stealing cash worth ₹27.68 lakh, the Kolsewadi police in Kalyan suspected that the same gang of three to four robbers were operational across the State.
The police investigation revealed that the gang have started the spate of robberies six months ago from south of Maharashtra – Sangli, Solapur, Osmanabad – and later moved towards Raigad, Satara, Pune and Thane districts. If they followed the same pattern, their next target could be Mumbai or Palghar. While Kalyan police themselves have formed six teams, the police from the other six districts are also on the lookout for this gang.
As per the police, in the Kalyan robbery that occurred at 2.49 am on Sunday, the gang entered two ATM kiosks of Bank of India, sprayed the CCTV camera with white paint and used gas cutters to take the entire cash box with them. The police realised the same modus operandi was used in the other robberies across the State after a specific time gap.
The accused are from Haryana, suspected the police in their initial investigation.
A shop owner near the ATM got a call regarding Sunday’s robbery after which she informed the bank and the police.
Baseer Shaikh, senior police inspector of Kolsewadi police station, said, “Our six teams analysed the robbery patterns. The patterns of spraying CCTV cameras, number of persons, use of gas cutters, breaking patterns of cash box and fleeing with the cash boxes were similar to the thefts in six other districts in the last six months. However, all the thefts are under investigation. There is no breakthrough yet.”
The Kalyan police, however, found CCTV footage of one of the accused who went inside the ATM but did not use his card, just did a recce of the ATM and went back. The Kalyan team is using this footage to trace the accused and foil their next robbery plans.
An officer said, “We studied similar robberies and found that the same modus operandi is used for the last six months in Maharashtra. It first started with Sangli, then moved to Solapur, Osmanabad, Satara, Pune, Pen, Panvel and Kharghar in Raigad district. They have reached Thane and might proceed to Mumbai or Palghar.”
The robbery gap between each is a few weeks that are different in each area. Umesh Mane Patil, assistant police commissioner, said, “We are suspecting that this is the same team. The Solapur robbery occurred just one-and-a-half months ago, and Solapur police team is already tracking this group. We cannot reveal further details as our investigation is still going on.”
The Kolsewadi police have registered a case of theft under Sections 380, 427 and 34 against unidentified persons.