In a major achievement, Ranchi Police arrested six persons from Chirkunda area of Dhanbad on Thursday, while one of the accused was still at large, in the Rs29 lakh loot case that took place under Bariatu Police Station in Ranchi on June 28. Rs13 lakh cash along with a newly purchased motorcycle and some jewellery purchased with the money looted by the miscrenats has also been recovered.
“Field Development Officer of Aashirvaad Microfinance Company Shatrughna Kumar was the mastermind behind the loot. He had informed his neighbour Suraj Singh in Chirkunda that Rs25-30 lakh cash was being transferred in his office at a time which could be looted very easily,” said SSP Kuldeep Dwivedi. Police said that Suraj was a petty street vendor who sold ‘pakoras’ in Chirkunda for a living.
Suraj then informed his friends Pappu Mandal, Deepak Kar, Mantu Da and Ujjwal Chaterjee about it and chalked out a plan to loot the money from Shatrughna’s office. A recce of Ashirvaad Micro-Finance Company was done by all of them in the month of May itslef.
“Finally it was decided by Shatrughna that their plan of loot will be brought on the ground on June 28 as a huge amount will be brought to the office on that day,” SSP said. In order to avert any doubt over him, mastermind Shatrughana took a leave for the day on that day in the name of examination, he said.
All of them reached Ranchi on the day of incident and gathered near RIMS as per the plan.
“As Shatrughna had already told Suraj the registration number of the car in which cash will be brought to the office, he waited at a distance for the cash to be brought there while the other five waited near the office. As soon as Suraj informed them that the car was heading towards the office, they snatched the bag filled with money from the manager and fled to Chrikunda on two motorcycles, while Suraj went back by train,” said the SSP.
Out of the arrested six persons, only Ujjwal Chaterjee has a criminal background and has been to jail in connection with a loot case registered in Shanibodh Police Station in Bankura in West Bengal while rest of them are petty businessmen, who earn their living either by roadside vending or some other sources.
Out of Rs13 lakh, Rs3 lakh was recovered from Pappu, Rs3 lakh from Suraj, Rs2 lakh from Deepak, Rs2 lakh from Mantu, Rs2 lakh from Shatrughna and Rsone lakh from Ujjwal while the newly purchased motorcycle from the looted money was recovered from Ujjwal. All the jewelleries on the other hand, were recovered from Pappu. Ujjwal is also said to have cleared debts from the looted amount.
Five armed criminals had snatched Rs29 lakh from Manager of Ashirvad Microfinance Private limited Sugreev Singh on gunpoint on June 28 at the entrance of his office building in Sanskriti Vihar locality in Bariatu.
Singh was dropped by his driver at the gate of the building with a bag containing the stolen money when armed robbers forced him give up the bag. They also fired some aerial rounds before fleeing the scene.