Surat police submit production warrant to Bihar jail for custody of April 27 SBI robbery ‘mastermind’
Warrant documents produced before Beur court, say Superintendent of Adarsh Central Jail at Beur in Patna
Surat police said that this is the first crime of Kundan Bhagat’s gang in Gujarat. (File Photo) The Surat police submitted a production warrant to the authorities of Beur jail in Bihar on Friday to get custody of notorious gangster Kundan Bhagat for his alleged involvement in the April 27 robbery of Rs 52 lakh at State Bank of India Varachha branch.
A gang of armed robbers looted Rs 52 lakh in cash from the SBI branch in Surat after threatening the staff and customers at gunpoint in the afternoon of April 27.
A mastermind of high value robberies, Bhagat reportedly chose the Varachha branch because of its record of clearing a large number of gold loans. According to police, Bhagat had hired criminals from different states to carry out the robbery.
Jitendra Kumar, Jail Superintendent of Adarsh Central Jail at Beur in Patna, told The Indian Express that the warrant documents from Surat police have been submitted to the Beur court.
“Kundan Bhagat has been with us for the last seven to eight months and is lodged in a high- security cell. Once we get permission from the court, we will hand over Kundan Bhagat to the Surat police,” Kumar said.
Varachha police had, through the Surat district court, obtained a production warrant of Kundan Bhagat. A police team from Surat had left for Bihar, and on Friday they submitted a copy of the production warrant to the jail superintendent.
Two gang members, Shubham Kumar Thakur, 24, and Vikram Singh Rajput, 30, residents of Gonda, Bihar, were arrested from Uttar Pradesh on May 4 and other accused are still on the run.
Varachha police inspector A R Vala said, “Kundan Bhagat is a notorious and hardcore criminal having many cases registered against him. With the help of Bihar police, we will bring him to Surat for questioning. So far, we have arrested two accused involved in the robbery, while the whereabouts of the others remain unknown. Kundan is the main conspirator in the crime, and he had hired various criminals to commit the robbery. The other five accused involved in the loot are absconding, so once we get custody of Kundan, we can trace and catch the others.”
Surat police said that this is the first crime of Kundan Bhagat’s gang in Gujarat. Police had said that Bhagat plotted the heist in the hope of stealing gold, but that plan failed as the keys to the vault were with the manager, who was away on duty for the Gujarat local body polls on the day of the heist. Finally, the gang took away Rs 12 lakh from the cash counter and Rs 40 lakh which came from the SBI head office, police had said.
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