PATNA: In what can be described as a replication of the Bollywood blockbuster ‘Special 26,’ an engineering graduate formed a team to commit daylight robbery in the house of a sand mining dealer posing as I-T officials in Bihar’s Lakhisarai district.
The gang’s modus operandi came to light when its mastermind Chandan Kumar, a mechanical engineer from Anna University, was arrested late on Friday with his five accomplices, all well-educated who would talk in English. Initially, Chandan tried to mislead the police but later confessed to his crime.
The ‘raiding team’ comprising two women and five men — well-dressed with suitcases and files in their hands and carrying I-cards — barged into Sanjay Singh’s house posing as I-T officials and searched the building for about 45 minutes.
Interestingly, they had hand held metal detectors and walkie talkies. While some members posing as ‘seniors’ landed at the trader’s house in an SUV with ‘IT Department, GoI,’ emblazoned on it, others reached on two-wheelers. As per plan, they all took their position soon after the ‘search operation’ began at around 1.45 pm on January 31 and ‘seized’ `11.78 lakh in cash and `20 lakh worth jewellery.
Sanjay’s wife was asked to sit in a room and watch the ‘search operation’. Her mobile phone was taken away. As the operation was in progress, Sanjay reached home. To his utter shock, he was hurdled into a room and asked to wait till the operation was over. While leaving with the cash and jewellery, they told Singh to come to the I-T office in Lakhisarai where seized cash would be counted in his presence.
Sanjay was taken aback when he visited the IT office as the officials denied any raid. “Only then I realised that something was fishy and I alerted the police station.”
Lakhisarai SP Sushil Kumar said six members of the gang, including Chandan, were arrested and `5.70 lakh cash recovered from their possession.