The Kochi police were alerted of a daring heist on October 12. An ATM by the Seaport-Airport Road at Irumbanam was robbed of Rs 25 lakh. Around the same time, another ATM was robbed at Koratty near Thrissur. In both cases, the robbers had downed the shutters of the ATMs from inside and spray painted the security cameras before breaking open the cash machines with gas cutters.
The similarities prompted the police to think that the same gang had operated across three districts. The gang stole a pickup van from Kottayam and drove it to their targets in Ernakulam and Kottayam. They tried to rob an ATM in Kottayam too but the operation had to be aborted midway, the police said.
A special team was formed with Kottayam superintendent of police Hari Shankar in command. The team had officers from the three districts.
The police struck gold when they laid their hands on surveillance footage that captured the suspects fleeing the scene of crime. The video clearly showed the faces of some of the suspects who were thought to be from outside Kerala.
The police tracked them by sifting through the mobile phone call logs that ran in excess of 2 lakh documents. They found that one phone number was operated in Koratty and Kottayam on the day of the loot. The number was traced to Robin, a resident of Rajasthan.
Tripunithura circle inspector Uttam Das led a team of officers including Kottayam East sub inspector Reneesh, assistant sub inspector K K Reji, assistant sub inspector V Ajith, civil police officers P T Anas and D Binil to Rajasthan. They zeroed in on Robin with the help of the local police. They were surprised to learn that Robin had never travelled to Kerala. He merely lent his phone to a friend.
Robin, however, could not contact the friend, who had already gone into hiding. Robin was let off but his phone was kept under watch. The police found that most of the people who called him up were from the areas bordering Uttar Pradesh. All of them were found to be accused in criminal cases.
The police managed to nab Nazim Khan, whose face was captured by a surveillance camera in Kerala. The police team surrounded his house at Parana before daybreak and took him into custody. He eventually spilled the beans about his accomplices, Azam Khan, Pappy Singh and Haneef, the kingpin of the gang.
Pappy Singh was found to be serving a prison sentence at Tihar in connection with a motorcycle theft case in Delhi. He is also accused of several cases in Maharashtra.
Haneef hailed from the Mewat village along the Haryana-Rajasthan border. The village in Shikarpur was so notorious that even the local police steered clear of it. To make matters worse, the anti-social elements in the villages had their moles in the police to tip them off the minute a police party from outside the state reached the area.
The officers from Kerala did not want to risk their chances. They directly approached the senior cops in Rajasthan before launching an action in Mewat. Haneef was arrested from his house after a combined operation by the Kerala police and the Rajasthan police at 3 am on November 6. Haneef fought his pursuers for 15 minutes before surrendering. The police bundled Haneef into their van and sped away.
They could not afford to stay back for the other suspects as the arrest of Haneef would have turned the entire village against them. The police are yet to capture three suspects in the case. All of them are residents of Mewat.
