Pics: Hemanath Padubidri
Daijiworld Media Network - Udupi (SP)

Udupi, May 28: Two people of the five-member gang having its base in Mumbai which had already been involved with several robberies,   that was plotting to rob banks in the district, were apprehended by the policemen. A revolver and two hatchets were recovered from the arrested men.

Acting on a call received at the police control room here from a citizen late night on Tuesday May 26, deputy superintendent of police Jayant V Shetty, district crime intelligence bureau inspector Srinivasraj accompanied by other police personnel, went to Santhekatte near here and arrested the two. The policemen claim, that with this arrest, a major robbery waiting to happen in the district, has been foiled.

The members of the gang conversed in Hindi. The policemen spread out in different directions before trying to arrest them. As the five ran under the cover of darkness, the policemen succeeded in arresting two persons, announced district superintendent of police Pravin Madhukar Pawar, at a press conference held here on Wednesday May 27.

The arrested accused have been identified a Sanjay Singh alias Sanjay Ram Bahadur Singh (33) from Nepal and Brijesh Upadhyay (32) from Uttar Pradesh. Sanjay had a revolver in his possession, while two hatchets were recovered from Brijesh. The arrested persons claimed that they had been sent to the district by a man named Ashok Jeevani from Mumbai and that they do not know the three persons who fled during the police operation.

The policemen have collected information that Sanjay had been last caught by the Mumbai policemen in   1999 and that he had been released from the jail in 2002. Thereafter, he was involved with various robberies and he and his accomplices Ashok Jeevani and Giridhar Pote are in the wanted list of the Mumbai policemen, relating to various cases of bank robberies and waylaying of people.

Brijesh too is a notorious robber from Mumbai. Even though his native place in Gopalpur in Jounpur district, Uttar Pradesh, he grew up in Mumbai and studied up to the eighth standard. His elder brother Ramesh Upadhyay, who was the leader of the gang in the past, was an infamous criminal and had died during a police encounter in the year 2008. Brijesh had been arrested and jailed in 2002 and was released in the year 2007.

Several of the accomplices of the arrested robbers are active even now, while one of them named Sada Shetty was killed in an encounter in Mumbai some time back.  The robberies committed by the two include robbery of 100 kgs of silver from near Pune from a bus in 1999, attacking policemen with weapons, bank robbery in Ghatkoper Mumbai and a nationalized bank in Navi Mumbai, robbery of Rs 10 lac from Punjab National Bank Pune, day light robberies of electronics shops, jewellery shops, Bombay dyeing show room etc.

The policemen have been interrogating the arrested culprits and hope to uncover more information in course of time. They have gathered information that the five came to Udupi individually and did not know each other.

Both the western range inspector general of police Gopal Hosur and the Mumbai police have hailed the operation of the district policemen.