Hingoli cops crack highway dacoity case in 24 hours; nab all 9 accused

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: The Hingoli police on Monday said they have solved a high-profile highway dacoity case, in which a bank manager was looted of Rs 8 lakh in cash, within 24 hours of the incident. The police have arrested all nine accused and recovered the looted cash and vehicles used in the crime, estimated to be worth Rs 20 lakh, after teams travelled nearly 1,600km to nab the final set of suspects from Andhra Pradesh."The dacoity was committed on Friday morning when the complainant, Gnyaniba Bhosale (46), the manager of the Parbhani District Central Cooperative Bank's Bodi branch, was transporting Rs 8 lakh in cash on a motorcycle from Vasmat to Chondi. At 10am, as he reached the Korta Pati area, a pickup deliberately rammed into his motorcycle. In the complaint, Bhosale said he was thrown to the roadside and was injured. Taking advantage of the situation, a group of dacoits following the pickup snatched the cash bag and fled," said Hingoli SP Neelabh Rohan.Based on Bhosale's complaint, the Kurunda police registered an FIR under BNS sections 310(2) and 311 and began an investigation. "Given the gravity of the offence and the organised manner in which it was executed, we deployed the local crime branch," Rohan said.A special team, under the supervision of additional SP Kamlesh Meena, was formed. Using technical surveillance, call data analysis and confidential inputs, the police first arrested three accused within the first 12 hours, including those who allegedly provided inside information on the movement of cash. However, six key accused managed to flee with the money.LCB officers later received inputs that the remaining suspects were travelling towards Tirupati and were hiding in Bapatla city in Andhra Pradesh. "Our team worked around the clock, analysing technical evidence and human intelligence. Once we confirmed the suspects' location, we immediately got into action," said LCB assistant inspector Shivsamb Gheware.A police team led by Gheware, along with his subordinates, went to Andhra Pradesh and conducted a raid near the Bapatla railway station area. All six absconding accused were arrested, and Rs 6.7 lakh in cash was seized from their possession."With these arrests, the entire dacoity chain has been busted. The coordination between district police and the LCB ensured that no accused escaped," additional SP Meena said, adding that the operation involved continuous travel and coordination across states.The nine arrested accused have been identified as Balaji, alias Thakur Pandhonde (29), Nagnath Kharate (26), Omkar Gawhane (23), Balaji Dakhore (25), Mahendra Kamble (25), Omkar Kadam (23), Rishi, alias Satyam Ingole (22), Nagesh Gadhave (25) and Bhagwat Kadam (24), all residents of Wasmat taluka in Hingoli district.