NIA court gives nod; Gujarat police to get custody of Surat bank heist ‘mastermind’ from Bihar jail

“Our police team, with high-ranking officials, has been in Patna for the last two months. We had spoken with the Patna Superintendent of Police and discussed the security measures to be followed while bringing the dreaded criminal to Surat. We have also sent more personnel to Bihar as we don’t want to take any chances,” the SP added.

A Bihar resident, Kundan Kumar, 29, arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in November 2025 in an illegal weapons and smuggling case, has been lodged in Beur Jail in Patna since November 18 last year. According to the NIA, he was indulged in illegal procurement and smuggling of prohibited bore weapons from Nagaland which were being supplied to Naxalites and criminals in Bihar. The case originated with the seizure of an AK-47 rifle along with a lens by Bihar Police. Kundan was the sixth accused to be chargesheeted in the case.

On April 15, the NIA submitted a supplementary chargesheet against Kundan Bhagat, a resident of Muzaffarpur, in the case with the Patna NIA court under various sections of the IPC, Arms Act and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).

A gang of armed robbers looted Rs 52 lakh in cash from the SBI branch in Surat’s Varachha after threatening the staff and customers at gunpoint in the afternoon of April 27. The Surat police arrested two alleged accused — Shubham Thakur (24) and Vikramjit Singh Rajput (30) – on May 7 from Gonda in Uttar Pradesh for their alleged role in the heist. The probe quickly zeroed in on the alleged mastermind: Kundan Bhagat.

A mastermind of high value robberies, Bhagat reportedly chose the Varachha branch because of its record of clearing a large number of gold loans, police said. According to police, Bhagat had hired criminals from different states to carry out the robbery. Their original plan was to steal gold and diamonds from the bank vault, but that didn’t work and the gang ended up looting Rs 52 lakh from the bank, police said.

Surat police arrested another accused, Miteshkumar alias Maheshkumar Lakhendra Rai, from Bihar’s Motihari district on May 30. He was remanded to Surat police custody for seven days.

How police get a favourable order from NIA court

After the name of Kundan Kumar cropped up during the interrogation of the two accused arrested in the case, Surat police had begun work to get his custody from Bihar jail.

Surat DySP Alok Kumar said, “We first filed an application with the Surat First Class Judicial Magistrate Court to get custody of Kundan Bhagat. We explained the importance of getting custody of Bhagat. Later, Surat judge coordinated with the Patna NIA court judge. The Bihar NIA court had suggested questioning Bhagat through video conferencing. We replied that Bhagat is the main conspirator in the Surat bank heist and he had hired criminals from different parts of India, giving them code names. These gang members were also given intense weapon-firing training, and they were also told not to disclose code names or original names to the police. Three accused had been arrested so far and the remaining five or more others involved in the robbery are still absconding.”

“We requested the NIA court judge, through the Surat judge, that personal custody of Bhagat is necessary to identify and arrest the other accused in the Surat bank robbery. The personal custody of Bhagat is necessary as we can interrogate them along with the other three arrested accused,” the officer said.