Lakshmi Jewellers armed robbery case: One injured accused dies in Gwalior

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: One of the four accused involved in the attempted armed robbery of Lakshmi Jewellers in Devi Nagar of Bengaluru, died at a hospital in Gwalior due to a wound inflicted during a scuffle with the shop owner and his nephew here, police said on Tuesday.

The other three accused, Kanha Pandit, Ashu Pandit and Mose alias Banti, have been remanded to 13- day custody by a court in Bengaluru.

Meanwhile the police have found clues about the fifth accused who is currently on the run.

Speaking to News Trail following a conference held by the Bengaluru Police Commissioner B Dayananda, a senior official said that the accused who died of a gunshot injury on his neck, was Suraj.

Around 11:15 am on March 14, four assailants had barged into Lakshmi Jewellers and Bankers here and held the owner Happuram and his nephew Anandram at gunpoint, demanding they hand over the valuables in the shop.

As Happuram and Anandram attempted to resist robbery, the assailants opened four rounds of fire during which the accused Suraj sustained gunshot injury on his neck.

Two bullets hit Happuram on his torso while Anandram was shot on his thigh. As the alarm in the shop was triggered, the accused sped away on the motorcycles while dropping a countrymade pistol.

The official also said that Suraj rode the bike for 1,200 kilometres and did not eat and drink for two-and-ahalf days till he reached Gwalior. He had covered his wound with a muffler.

Later during the arrest, the police found that he had developed complications in the wound following which they admitted him to a government hospital in Gwalior.

The next day he succumbed to the injury.

Bengaluru police one step ahead of the accused

Following the incident, the police recovered fingerprint marks from the scene of crime and began checking with the national fingerprint data portal and found the details of one of the accused.

The investigation officers led by Deputy Commissioner of Police, North-East, Lakshmi Prasad, in Bengaluru had formed teams and tracked the movements of the accused as they escaped from the city via Goraguntepalya Flyover, initially to Tumakuru, then Chikkaballapura and boarded a train to Madhya Pradesh from Anantpura Railway Station.

With the help of the local police, Bengaluru cops intercepted the accused early in the morning on March 16 as they alighted the train at Gwalior Railway Station and brought them to Bengaluru.

Bengaluru top cop B Dayananda said that the cops have recovered four countrymade pistols including the one that the accused had dropped outside the shop while escaping, 12 live bullets, from the possession of the accused.

The accused confessed to have stolen the two bikes, one from HSR Layout and another from Vidyaranyapura, to use them in the robbery bid.