Date:10/06/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/06/10/stories/2007061017110300.htm

Karnataka - Bangalore

Inter-State gang's plan to target realtors foiled

Staff Reporter

Three members were arrested in Kerala and three others in Karnataka

THWARTED: The accused wanted in a robbery case were produced by the police at a press conference in Bangalore on Saturday. — Photo: Bhagya Prakash K.

BANGALORE: The police have unearthed plan of an inter-State gang, mainly comprising well-educated youths from Kerala, to attack prominent land developers and builders here and loot them of cash.

Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Gopal B. Hosur told presspersons on Saturday that the gang, which had robbed a real estate agency employee of Rs. 10 lakh at gunpoint on Castle Street on May 31, had prepared a list of realtors and builders in the city.

Targets

"They had planned to target such realtors or their staff carrying black money as they would not lodge a police complaint in case of robbery," he said.

Mr. Hosur said three members of the gang were arrested with the help of the Kerala police in Thiruvananthapuram on June 6 and the three others in Madikeri and Bangalore subsequently.

Key man

The police are on the lookout for a key member of the gang who had masterminded and executed the daring robbery.

One of the arrested is Vijay (26) of Suntikoppa in Kodagu district, the real estate agency car driver who had "connived" with the gang and provided information about the cash being transported from a bank to the agency office.

The police have recovered Rs. 6.2 lakh cash and seized a .22 revolver and eight bullets from the arrested.

One of the arrested, Anish (24) of Kollam district in Kerala is an employee of a leading software firm in Bangalore and he earns an annual salary of Rs. 2.45 lakh.

His accomplice Keerthi (22) of Thiruvananthapuram is an MBA student at the Indian Institute of Planning and Management at Koramangala here.

Keerthi had earlier studied at National Defence Academy in Khadakvasla.

But for some reasons he could not get commissioned into the Indian Navy, the police said. Their accomplices were Krishna Das (27) of Thiruvananthapuram, who has a masters' degree in tourism and also a degree in computer science, and G.N. Jeevan (29) of Kollam, who has a degree in Economics.

The other accused Francis Xavier (23) of Madikeri is a college dropout.

A team led by Assistant Commissioner of Police (Ulsoor Gate sub-division) B.B. Ashok Kumar and comprising sub-inspectors S.K. Malatesh, K. Mahananda, Puneeth Kumar, B.K. Suresh Kumar and Shashidaran Nair arrested the accused.