In a significant breakthrough, the Commissionerate Police on Tuesday arrested two interstate criminals in connection with the ATM theft that occurred on January 24 at Sriram Nagar under Lingaraj Police Station limits in Bhubaneswar.
The arrested individuals have been identified as Abdul Haq alias Rustam (36) from Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, and Sheikh Mijanur Rehman Mulla alias Raju (45) from West Bengal. With their arrest, the total number of people apprehended in the case has reached eight.
“Six accused were previously arrested and sent to court. Now, with the capture of these two interstate robbers, we have further dismantled the gang involved in the ATM robbery,” said Commissioner of Police Suresh Dev Datta Singh at a press briefing.
The crime took place on January 24, when the gang stole an ATM machine from a nationalized bank in Sriram Nagar. They transported it to a nearby riverbank using a stolen auto-rickshaw and used a gas cutter to break open the machine.
Earlier, on March 1, six suspects were arrested from Vedavyas in Rourkela following an extensive investigation aided by CCTV footage analysis. During the initial arrests, police recovered a vehicle, Rs 1.6 lakh in cash, and other materials linked to the theft.
From the latest arrests, police seized Rs 38,000 in cash and mobile phones from the accused.
The investigation is ongoing to trace any remaining members of the gang and recover more stolen funds.
