ANANTAPUR: The Anantapur police on Saturday cracked the sensational JNTU SBI robbery case and arrested two of the five accused. They could, however, recover just Rs 10.58 lakh of the stolen Rs 39.13 lakh.
During the investigation, it was found that the main accused selected four banks in the outskirts of Bengaluru, Anantapur, Kurnool and Hyderabad as targets while in Haryana using Google Maps.
Anil Kumar Panwar, recced the spots and narrowed down on the SBI branch in Anantapur as it did not have any security guard. The 38-year-old kingpin then called the other accused to Bengaluru from where the modus operandi was decided. It was the gas cutter the gang left behind that acted as a breakthrough in what initially appeared to be an immaculately executed break-in, a police source said.
The device which bore the logo of the shop it was purchased from was bought using a debit card, allowing the cops to trace the accused down. Footage from the CCTV camera installed in the shop was scrutinised and special police teams sent to Maharashtra and other States to catch the offenders.
The two were finally nabbed from Haryana. “Panwar came to Anantapur on July 23 and captured screenshots of the bank’s surroundings. He even drew a sketch to discuss how the gang would rob the bank!’’ the SP explained. Police said the accused disposed of `6 lakh of the stolen amount as it got burnt when they cut open the locker.
Anil Kumar Panwar worked as a jawan with the Indo-Tibetan Border Police Force before being removed for bad conduct in 2006. He has previously been arrested for looting Rs 2.50 crore from two banks along with his gang.