Mangaluru, September 5: The police cracked theft case of Rs 9 lakhs which went missing from the cash counter at the city central railway station here about one and half months ago.
The arrested man is identified as Madhusudan alias Sudhakar (39), from Malepatti in Ramji Nagar, Trichy district, Tamil Nadu. After being produced in a court here on Friday, was taken back to Goa.
The police have identified 15 persons as accused in this case. Search is on to arrest the other thieves.
On July 19th, a gang had entered the central railway station’s counter here, and taken away a suitcase containing nine lakh rupees. An investigation was launched and initially the counter staffs were suspected. But no clues were available. Hence, three members who were on duty at the time had personally reimbursed this shortage amount. It is gathered that the thieves, after committing theft, had left for different destinations in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Goa, and some other places.
Accused Madhusudan was arrested by Goa police relating to a recent bank robbery case there. After the Goa police passed on this information, Mangaluru Railway Protection Force personnel went to Goa, and brought the accused to the city on Thursday.
Four days back, a suitcase containing Rs 12 lakhs had gone missing from Bank of India’s Mapusa branch in Goa. A person lifting out the suitcase from the cash counter was revealed by the CCTV footage. The police had released this photo to the media. During inspection of vehicles, they had taken into custody a passenger of a bus going to Karwar from Goa as his face resembled the photograph. During investigations the man confessed to the police about the theft.
The Mangaluru railway police, who got the information about the arrest found that the photo of the culprit matched with a person captured in CCTV footage of the railway station here. They sought custody of the person through body warrant, and during their interrogation, Madhusudan confessed to his crime, it is gathered.
Madhusudan during the police investigations said that out of 15 gang members, 14 had stood outside the counter and when the queue moved ahead and they reached the counter, they started some dispute with counter staff and diverted their attention. Utilizing this opportunity, Madhusudan sneaked into the counter, and escaped with the suitcase on the table containing cash within 18 seconds.
CCTV footage has been verified, and all the accused have been identified. Efforts are on to arrest all the others in this case, said Central railway protection force inspector, A P Venu.
The accused Madusoodan comes from Mailatti village which is famed as the village of thieves. Different gang of robbers live here.
