The Koparkhairane police arrested two persons from Mumbai and claimed to have solved the daylight robbery from a cooperative bank in Navi Mumbai within 36 hours. The police also recovered Rs 64,000 cash and the weapon used to commit the crime.
Both the arrested are residents of Chembur and have been identified as Swapnil Sakpal, 19, an unemployed youth and Bhushan Chaudhary, 26, a businessman. They were arrested on Friday night from Govandi and RCF in Chembur in Mumbai.
According to police, on Thursday afternoon, the duo entered the Saraswat Bank in Sector 20, Koparkhairane, and made inquiries regarding the mortgage process. As they entered the bank in the afternoon, soon the banks staff went for a lunch break. Other customers too left the bank. However, they stayed put there.
At around 2.25 pm, they took out sharp-edged weapons from their backpack and flashed towards the bank manager and other staff including the security guard. “They collected the cash available at the drawer of the cashier. They also entered the locker room but came out immediately and fled with the cash,” said Suryakant Jagdale, senior police inspector from Koparkhairane police station. He added that they fled with Rs 4,16,100 cash from the bank. “We recovered Rs 64,000 cash, weapons, and the clothes worn at the time of the crime and other materials from them,” said Jagdale.
However, their act recorded in the CCTV camera. They had come on a motorbike and were wearing masks and plastic gloves. The Navi Mumbai police formed five teams and based on a tip-off and with the help technical analysis, they nabbed both of them from Chembur on Friday night.
They have been booked under sections 394 and 34 of IPC and sections 3 and 25 of Arms Act and 37(1) and 135 of the Maharashtra Police act. They were presented before the court on Thursday where they were sent on police custody till July 23.
