Inspector Jai Kumar played a pivotal role in arresting a notorious 29-member gang of dacoits, even though he had left his service weapon behind.
Being weaponless doesn’t necessarily means you’re helpless, knows this inspector of the Mysore Central Crime Branch.
Any other cop in his place would have floundered, but inspector Jai Kumar played a pivotal role in arresting a notorious 29-member gang of dacoits, even though he had left his service weapon behind in Mysore for an operation in Shirdi, Maharashtra.
The interstate gang had robbed Rs23.5 lakh from the Karnataka Bank branch situated on D Devaraj Urs Road in Mysore on July 22. Notwithstanding his forgetful disposition, Kumar showed greater presence of mind and bought a toy pistol and plastic AK-47 from a toy shop in Shirdi.
The ploy yielded result as the gang was arrested in the operation on August 6.
Even Ahmednagar police, under whose jurisdiction Shirdi falls, were not aware of this as some of the officials there were suspected to be supporting the gang of robbers.
It was no mean a task as the gang had also garnered the support of locals, said a senior police officer requesting anonymity.
A team of seven policemen from Mysore went to the spot were the gang was hiding. As soon as he saw the 29 robbers, Kumar pointed the toy pistol towards them.
Six others in the team had old-model barrel guns. The robbers, however, were not willing to surrender and resisted police action. Kumar then asked his men to get him the fake AK-47, which deflated the spirits of robbers. The gang surrendered.
The robbers were taken in two canter lorries. Some gang members were unwilling when they were asked to enter the vehicle.
The toy did the trick again as they were held at gun-point using the plastic AK-47. Police wielded the toy gun all along the way.
CCB police got the information that the gang was hiding in Shirdi based on mobile phone conversation details. The culprits were identified from the footage captured by the CCTV cameras in the bank.
They also seized Rs16.57 lakh from the gang.The team of seven policemen, including Kumar, was rewarded with Rs1 lakh.
How they looted bank
A 65-year-old man played deaf and went to the cash counter of the bank and made inquiries regarding deposit. He requested the cashier to come out of the counter and help him.
The bank employee obliged. At that time, another member of the gang entered the counter and looted the cash.
The gang completed its operation in three minutes flat, between 10.32am and 10.35am on that day.
The members of the gang are natives of Ramjinagar near Tiruchirapalli in Tamil Nadu. Some of them had transferred Rs4,66,800 to the bank accounts of their family members residing in and around Ramjinagar.
After the arrest, a CCB team went to Ramjinagar with the gang to recover the transferred money. This time, they were in possession of original weapons.
The gang had also committed a robbery Rs5 lakh in City Union Bank in Mysore in December 2010.
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