Indore (Madhya Pradesh): The mastermind of the London Villa Robbery case who had eluded the city police for over three months has now been arrested. He was arrested by the Alirajpur police on Wednesday in a jewellery shop robbery case. Somla Badan Singh had a bounty of Rs 40k on his head of which the city police had announced Rs 30k reward while the Alirajpur police had announced Rs 10k reward.
Banganga police station in-charge Lokesh Singh Bhadoriya said that a police team will be sent to Alirajpur on Thursday to take police custody of Somla after getting permission from the magistrate. Somla was the prime accused of robbery at the house of IOCL depot’s manager which occurred in the wee hours of February 23.
The city police had managed to arrest him six days after the incident. But a local court granted bail on the 5th day of the arrest as police failed to produce any incriminating evidence, establishing Somla's connection to the crime. This development sparked scepticism about the police's handling of the case and the then Banganga police station in-charge Neeraj Birthare was suspended for negligence.
Somal was arrested from Ghatabillod toll booth Naka in a joint operation by the special investigation team (SIT) and Jobat police. Somla was wanted in a jewellery shop robbery case. As per details, the robbery, which took place on May 24, involved nine armed miscreants who stormed into a jewellery shop in Jobat.
The assailants, wielding weapons and riding three bikes, attacked the shop owner, a woman, with a sharp weapon on her neck before fleeing with 5 to 8 kg of silver jewellery. The police had formed an SIT and five different teams to look into the dacoity. Acting on a tip-off, the team intercepted Somla who is a notorious criminal with a history of 27 crimes in Alirajpur, Dhar, Indore and various police stations in Gujarat as well.
