The Gwalior police on Monday morning arrested sharp shooter Naveen Sharma and three of his accomplices after a brief encounter near Bijouli. According to sources in the police this is the gang that had looted Rs 4.5 lakhs from the cashier of a gas agency after shooting him at the State Bank of India premises about a week back. It has also come to light that this gang was behind at least five robberies during the past one year.
The arrested gang members have been identified as Naveen Sharma, the mastermind and the one who had shot the cashier, Tapesh Pandit, a history sheeter and resident of Agra, Akash Jhat and Nawab Gurjar, both residents of Gwalior.
Earlier Gwalior SSP Navneet Bhaseen had formed a special team to trace and arrest the gang that had looted the gas agency cashier about a week ago. The Team comprising of Crime Branch TI Damodar Gupta, SI Pappu Yadav and six other constables went through about 150 CCTV footages before they got a clue. In one of the footages the gang members were seen entering a Scorpio car after leaving behind the bike that was used for the robbery. The car was registered in the name of Naveen Sharma, who happens to be the son of the SHO of Bairad police station in Shivpuri district. The accused, who owns a cloth shop in Gwalior, used to work earlier as a recovery agent for a finance company.
Naveen Sharma was fleeing the city in his bike when police intercepted and arrested him near Bijouli in the early hours of Monday. On seeing the police Naveen took out his pistol and shot at the police party. In the retaliatory firing the gang leader sustained bullet injuries on his leg. During questioning the accused revealed the names and whereabouts of the other gang members and the police soon arrested them also.
According to sources in the police the gang was behind the robbery at Shivpuri Link Road in July this year in which they had shot dead Ramesh Tomar, a security guard before looting Rs 8. 28 lakhs. The gang has also confessed to four other robberies. In all the gang had looted cash to the tone of Rs 42 lakhs during the past one year.
The police have registered a case under various sections of the IPC including sections 302, 320 and 397 which pertains to robbery with attempt to cause death or serious hurt.