Indore: A 47-year-old former defence personnel wanted for allegedly robbing Rs 6.6 lakh from a Punjab National Bank branch in Indore has been arrested from Uttar Pradesh, a police official said on Friday.
Speaking to reporters, Deputy Commissioner of Police Abhinay Vishwakarma said, “Accused Arun Singh Rathore was hiding in his maternal uncle’s house in a village in UP’s Etah district. A team arrested him on Thursday evening and brought him to Indore.” Despite his home being just a few kilometres from the bank branch where he committed the robbery on Tuesday, Singh took a circuitous route and covered nearly 14 km to mislead the police, he said.
Police had reached his home in the Shyam Nagar area in the early hours of Wednesday after a team of 50 cops scanned the footage from 1,172 cameras, an official had said earlier. They had recovered Rs 3 lakh, a part of the loot, and a 315-bore gun from Singh’s house.
“We tracked his mobile phone and his last location was found to be in UP but after the news went viral, he switched off his phone and stopped contacting his family members. But the last location led to his arrest,” said DCP Vishwakarma on Friday.
Police had said that a masked robber wearing a raincoat entered the bank branch in the city’s Vijay Nagar area on Tuesday afternoon. He took away a bag containing Rs 6.5 lakh after firing a round in the air. However, the figure rose to 6.6 lakh after bank officials tallied their records.
Police had suspected that the crime was committed by a security guard, probably an ex-serviceman, as he picked up the empty cartridge from the spot.
Published 19 July 2024, 10:53 IST