Cops recover 39L out of 40L robbed sum
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The money, part of the amount robbed by accused Shibin Lal, was found packed in plastic and buried in a plot about half-a-kilometre from his house at Pallipuram near Pantheerankavu.
The robbery took place on June 11 and Shibin Lal was arrested three days later. At the time of the arrest, only Rs 55,000 was recovered and Shibin Lal claimed to have handed over ₹45,000 to a third accused, Dinaranju alias Kuttappi.
The second accused, Shibin Lal's wife Krishnalekha, and Kuttappi were arrested on June 23.
Shibin Lal and Krishnalekha misled officials at ESAF Bank by claiming that they had gold worth Rs 40 lakh pledged at a private firm. They produced fake receipts and convinced the bank to give them Rs 40 lakh in cash to take over the pledged gold and mortgage at ESAF bank.
The bank staff came to Pantheerankavu with the required cash to reclaim the pledged gold from the firm where he had pledged it. As the bank staff stepped out of the car, Shibin Lal snatched the cash from them and fled on a scooter parked nearby.
Though Shibin Lal was interrogated twice after the incident, he consistently withheld the location of the remaining Rs 39 lakh. It was only during a third custodial interrogation that he confessed and revealed the location where he had buried the money.
Police said shortly after the robbery that Shibin Lal switched off all three of his mobile phones. He set aside Rs 1 lakh for his expenses and secretly buried the remaining Rs 39 lakh in a private property, before escaping to Palakkad.
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Feroke ACP A M Siddique said the breakthrough came following a tip-off that someone had approached a private financial institution on Shibin Lal's behalf, asking whether a Rs 35 lakh one-time settlement could be made in lieu of an outstanding ₹80 lakh loan.
Another lead came from CCTV footage in Kondotti area which showed Shibin Lal travelling without the bag. After that Shibin Lal was questioned again during which he revealed the actual location.
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