Thiruvananthapuram, Feb. 28: Four burglars from a Dhoom-inspired gang that pulled off Kerala’s biggest bank robbery on New Year’s Eve have been arrested with much of the loot.
The gang had broken into South Malabar Gramin Bank and escaped with 80kg of gold jewellery and Rs 24 lakh in cash — Rs 8.25 crore in all.
Additional DGP K.S. Jangpangi told reporters in Kozhikode today that the burglars had confessed they were inspired by the John Abraham-starrer in which the actor drills a hole through the roof of a hotel vault and sweeps it clean while a New Year party is on.
Police have recovered 57kg of gold and Rs 5,51,000 from the four — Joseph alias Jaison of Kottayam, Ragesh alias Shibu of Thrissur, and Radhakrishnan and Kankeshwari from Kozhikode.
“The accused had sold around 22kg of gold in Bangalore, Chennai and Coimbatore. All the accused were arrested from the house of Radhakrishnan and Kankeshwari at Kottooli in Kozhikode district,” said Malappuram superintendent of police P. Vijayan, whose team cracked the case.
Two months of planning went into the heist. The robbers booked a room at a hotel in Malappuram, 180km north of Kochi, and drilled a hole in its ceiling to enter the bank located on the floor above.
“The main accused told us he got the idea for the theft from the film Dhoom,” Jangpangi said. He added that this was the first time “Kerala police were recovering so much gold in a case of burglary”.
Amid speculation that the kingpin was still at large, he said: “I can’t reveal whether more people are involved as the probe is still on.”
The investigations had taken the police to neighbouring states as they tracked the suspects’ movements through the cellphones they were using. In the second week of January, Hyderabad police were close to nabbing the robbers who had checked into a hotel in the city. But they fled, leaving behind 1kg of gold ornaments in the room.