Sangli district cooperative bank heist: 4, including gang leader and conspirator, arrested; valuables worth Rs 3.15 cr recovered

Kolhapur: The Sangli police arrested four men, including an alleged gang leader and a local conspirator, and recovered gold and silver jewellery worth Rs 3.2 crore in connection with the Jan 7 heist at the Sangli District Central Cooperative Bank's Zare branch in Sangli's Atpadi tehsil.The heist had taken place on the intervening night of Jan 6 and 7. The burglars had broken open a window to gain access to the bank's safety lockers. They entered by cutting the window grills using a gas cutter and broke into 22 of the 35 lockers. They also tried to open the cash deposit safe, but failed as the gas required to cut open the safe ran out. According to primary estimates, the robbers stole 7kg of gold and 20kg of silver from the safe deposit lockers.Inspector Sanjeev Zade, of the Sangli local crime branch (LCB), said, "During the investigation, we learnt that seven to eight people were staying in a lodge in Palus town. They stepped out and carried out recces at various locations. They also carried out the recce at the Sangli DCC bank's Zare branch, and chose it as a target due to easy accessibility. We found that a person named Vishwajeet Patil, from Palus, was working in the Badaun district of Uttar Pradesh in a jewellery shop, where he came in contact with Rahul Sharma (27), a robber with a record with the UP Police. We got the CCTV footage from the lodge where they had stayed, and circulated it to the UP and Delhi Police. That is how we were able to trace Sharma, arrest him, and bring him to Sangli."The police said they also received information that some people were coming to Sangli to sell the stolen jewellery, and set a trap at Sangliwadi, near Sangli. Conspirator Vishwajeet Patil (24), from Bambavade, and two others — Sanket Jadhav (26), from Balwadi in Khanapur tehsil, and Ijaj Attar (30), from Amnapur tehsil, Palus — arrived in an SUV. The police arrested all three and recovered gold and jewellery items worth Rs 3.15 crore from them."After questioning them, we learnt that Patil and the two others were carrying the jewellery that was stolen from the bank lockers. It is a partial recovery, as the locker customers had give statements of the missing items. We believe Sharma brought a few people, who are experts in this kind of theft, with him to accomplish the task. Our teams are searching for them as well," Zade said.Sangli DCC's managing director Shivajirao Wagh said, "We have beefed up security at all our branches. Points such as windows or doors through which the safety lockers can be easily accessed, similar to the Zare case, have been totally shut with metal plates. We have deployed watchmen for every safety locker room."