Stolen gold worth Rs2 cr recovered, 2 held

Tribune News Service
Mohali, April 5

The police today claimed to have recovered 4.372kg gold, worth Rs 2 crore, from two suspects who had allegedly committed the SBI heist in Nurpur Bedi and stolen gold from the bank on March 28.

One motorcycle, 500gm intoxicant powder, two mobile phones and some cash has also been recovered from them, the police said.

Case registered

A case under Sections 379, 457, 380, 379-B and 411 of the IPC and the NDPS Act was registered against Sonu Kumar and Amit Kumar on April 3 at the Nayagaon police station.

The duo was living in a rented accommodation near the Singha Devi area.

The suspects have been identified as Panipat resident Sonu Kumar and Amit Kumar of Khuda Lahora, the police informed.

While Sonu is barely literate and used to work in a blanket factory, Amit, a Class X dropout, used to drive an auto-rickshaw.

A case under Sections 379, 457, 380, 379-B and 411 of the IPC and the NDPS Act was registered against the suspects on April 3 at the Nayagaon police station.

The two were yesterday produced in the court, which sent them in five-day police remand.

Fourteen cases of theft and snatching were registered against Sonu in Punjab and Haryana since 2014, and he had come out of jail recently. Amit Kumar has also been named two cases of theft and rioting.

SP (City) Harvinder Singh Virk said, ‘’With their arrests we have solved many incidents of crime, the biggest among them is the bank heist in Nurpur Bedi on March 28. The remaining gold will be recovered soon and more arrests are likely in the case.’’

Sources said the suspects were nabbed when a woman and her accomplice approached a bank in Nayagaon with 2kg loot in a bag for gold loan. The bank official grew suspicious and called the police. The police, however, did not confirm the role of any woman or any such incident.

Due procedure of ornament identification will be completed before the gold is returned to the bank, the police said.