3 days after Rs 10 crore bank heist, Mangaluru police arrest 3 gang members in Tamil Nadu

A gang of six men entered the Kotekar Agricultural Cooperative Bank’s branch on KC Road in Kotekar near Ullal in Mangaluru city on January 17 around noon, threatened the staff, and looted the bank.

It was the second major bank-linked robbery in Karnataka in two days and happened while Chief Minister Siddaramaiah was in Mangaluru. The Karnataka chief minister called a meeting of the Mangaluru police top brass and demanded speedy action to crack the case.

“In this case, a Mumbai-based gang has been found to be involved. Three persons who are natives of Tamil Nadu and living in Mumbai have been arrested. They have come with some of their associates and committed the robbery. After the robbery, they escaped to Tamil Nadu via Kerala,” Anupam Agarwal, Police Commissioner, Mangaluru, said Monday.

The arrested men have been identified as Murugandi Thevar, 36, the alleged mastermind, Manivannan, 36, and Joshua Rajendran alias Prakash, 35.

“Our teams went to Mumbai and after collecting information went to Tirunelveli in Tamil Nadu. Using technological and human intelligence we were able to narrow down to two offenders who were the kingpins of the gang.

“Among the two main persons, one is Murugandi Thevar, a native of Tirunelveli. From the interrogation done so far, we have learned that he was the mastermind behind the crime. He was assisted by a close associate Manivannan and a third person with them was Prakash alias Joshua. We arrested them from three different places in Tirunelveli,” the Mangaluru police commissioner said.

“With the limited interrogation, we were able to recover the car used for the crime – the Fiat car. It has a Maharashtra registration (a fake Karnataka registration was used on the car to commit the crime). Main accused Murugandi drove the car from Mumbai to Mangaluru and he drove the car back to Tirunelveli,” he added.

A weapon used in the crime and two gunny sacks containing the stolen gold have been recovered, the police said.

The police are investigating whether the gang had inside information from the bank since the robbery was committed when the CCTV system in the bank was under repair with a technician present at the bank when the robbery occurred.

“On the first day, we did not have information. We used technology and got some clues. Using contacts in other states we were able to narrow down the suspects. After detailed interrogation we will be able to reveal their involvement in other crimes,” the Mangaluru police commissioner said.

“We feel that it would have been difficult to carry out the crime in such a less-known bank without local help. We are looking at this angle,” he added.

There were three women employees and one male employee at the Kotekar Cooperative Bank – along with the CCTV technician – when the armed robbery occurred on January 17. The suspects were seen fleeing in a black Fiat car with a Bengaluru registration after the robbery.

Analysis of CCTV footage from toll plazas after the robbery showed the car crossing the Talapady toll booth to move into Kerala with only a driver in the car.

The car’s registration was found to be fake. The other members of the gang were detected to have travelled in a second car that was also found moving near the crime scene on CCTV cameras.

The probe has revealed that the gang members were involved in robberies in the past and were living in Mumbai for a while.

“In the last three days, our police have put in a lot of hard work and detected the case. It was a blind case because there were no CCTV cameras when the robbers entered the bank. There was a large amount involved and the security was called into question,” Agarwal said.