Man who robbed 50k from Surat textile factory 29 years ago arrested, say police

According to police, five people were allegedly involved in the robbery, out of which four had already been arrested and only Suresh Sadhu was absconding.

Officers from Sachin police had been working on the list of criminals who were on the run, in multiple criminal cases. The robbery at Sachin factory was one of them. According to the police, a gang of five armed robbers had allegedly barged inside a Nand textile factory at Sachin GIDC in 1996 and robbed Rs 50,000 after beating up and threatening the factory owner Hasmukh Dobariya. Following the incident, the factory owner had filed a complaint, based on which an FIR was registered at Sachin police station. The accused had carried firearms and knives with them while committing robbery, stated the FIR.

Over the years, police managed to arrest four members of the gang, however, Suresh Sadhu managed to evade arrest for decades, said the police.

The Sachin police started investigating Suresh’s whereabouts and, through human intelligence, learnt that he was staying at a village in Odisha. Surat Deputy Commissioner of Police Zone 6 Rajesh Parmar said, “A five-member police team reached the village and carried out surveillance. The cops worked undercover, did odd jobs and collected information about Suresh. After working for five days, our teams identified him and on Thursday, he was picked up from his native village”.

The Sachin police took transit remand of the accused from the local session court and reached Surat on Saturday afternoon. Parmar added, “After committing the robbery, Suresh had stayed in Delhi for some time and then went over to his native place in Odisha. He was 22-year-old when he committed the crime. Later, he got married at his village and has two children. His family doesn’t know about his crime.”

“During the probe, we found out that one of the accused had been working in the textile factory, and he was the mastermind behind the robbery. Later, Suresh joined their gang. We are trying to find out how much money did he get after the robbery and if he and the other members of his gang are involved in other such crimes. A probe is underway into the matter,” said Parmar.