Solving Crime: How a sniffer dog & a 10-year-old led cops to 2 accused of murdering SBI staffer, stealing Rs 2.7 lakh
The two accused, who were cousins, allegedly decided to rob a bank to settle a loan. They decided to target the SBI’s Dahisar branch because it did not have a security guard and was close to the railway station, the police said.
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Within 24 hours, the police traced and arrested both the accused, who were cousins – with a little help from a sniffer dog and a 10-year-old girl. (Representational Photo)In December 2021, two armed men wearing masks shot dead a contractual employee at State Bank of India’s Dahisar (West) branch and stole nearly Rs 2.7 lakh. Within 24 hours, the police traced and arrested both the two cousins, who allegedly committed the crime, with a little help from a sniffer dog and a 10-year-old girl.
On December 29, 2021, at around 3.27 pm, two men barged into an ‘unguarded’ SBI bank on the ground floor of Gurukul Housing Society, located less than a kilometre away from Dahisar railway station, as per the first information report.
Sandesh Gomane, who worked as a ‘Grahak Mitra’ at the bank, spotted the men and suspecting something amiss, got up to restrict them. But he was shot within seconds by one of the men, later identified as Dharmendra Subhashchandra Yadav, who allegedly hid a pistol behind a black bag.
As per police, Dharmendra, 21, was accompanied by his cousin Vikas Gulabdhar Yadav, 19. The duo, who were from Bhadohi in Uttar Pradesh, allegedly robbed around Rs 2.7 lakh cash from the bank and returned home with plans to leave Mumbai the next day.
Meanwhile, Gomane was rushed to the nearby Shatabdi hospital where he was declared dead. The bank cashier registered an FIR at MHB police station and the police swung into action. Several teams began scouring CCTV footage from 30 surveillance cameras. The police found that the Yadav brothers headed to the foot overbridge connecting Dahisar West and East.
With the help of locals, the police began a combing operation to locate the robbers. As per police, one of the brothers, before fleeing, had left behind his slipper in the bank premises. The police roped in Jesse, a tracker dog from its canine squad, to trace the accused. Jesse picked up the scent and took the search team to the Rawalpada slum area and stopped near a ground-plus-one structure where Dharmendra was allegedly hiding.
At the same time, a 10-year-old girl from the slum, based on the description of the suspects provided by the police, gave them Dharmendra’s house location and said she had seen him rushing home to change.
The police broke down the door and took Dharmendra into custody, who further led them to Vikas, who was also arrested.
The police recovered over Rs 2 lakh from the accused along with the pistol used to shoot Gomane. As per police, Dharmendra, who used to work with a catering service, told the police that he had committed the crime as his father, a farmer, had borrowed Rs 4.5 lakh and he wanted to settle the loan.
The police claimed that the cousins had made preparations to rob the bank by watching YouTube videos and bought a pistol, masks and gloves for the heist. As per police, The two did a recce of banks in the vicinity and narrowed down on the SBI branch as it did not have a security guard on its premises and due to its proximity to the railway station.
The bail pleas of the two accused are pending before the sessions court in Dindoshi and are likely to be heard next on January 1, 2024.
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