3 held in Manappuram gold robbery case, no gold recovered yet
The accused were identified as Mohan alias Mohna, 22, of Siwanka, Sunny alias Sunil, 20 of Busana, both in Sonipat and Rahul alias Behra, 21, of Phurlak in Karnal.
Mohan has six criminal cases against him, while Sunni was wanted in three cases at various police stations in Sonipat.
No gold or cash have been recovered yet, police said. The suspects looted valuables worth at least ₹6 crores in the heist, as per the firm officials.
ACP (crime) Mukesh Kumar said that at least eight to 10 more suspects are still at large.
'Five armed suspects impersonating auditors entered the branch at 5.20pm on Saturday and looted gold ornaments weighing 8.54 kilograms worth several crores and ₹8.56 lakh in cash. Some also stood guard outside the branch,' he said.
They prepared fake identity cards and had the ribbons attached to them, identical to those used by Manappuram employees, the police added and said even the branch manager, Shree Krishna and two other employees failed to identify the suspects.
ACP said that one of the suspects had directed Krishna to count cash and close the branch for audit.
'When Krishna and his junior went to deposit the cash and the gold packets to the vault, three of the suspects followed them inside,' he said, adding that their other associates overpowered the guards standing outside.
They said the suspects then looted gold ornaments kept in packets and cash and fled after locking the three employees inside the vault and breaking at the CCTV cameras.
Krishna said there was gold worth ₹13 crore in the vault when the five armed suspects impersonating auditors barged inside the branch at 6pm on Saturday.
Preliminary investigation revealed that the suspects were travelling in a Bolero but it broke down before reaching the branch, following which one of them drove it back and others reached the spot in an auto rickshaw.
The trio will be produced before a court on Wednesday and taken to police remand for further interrogation, police said, adding that investigation to nab other suspects is underway.
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