Jaipur: Seven of ATM loot gang held in door-to-door search operation

JAIPUR: Seven persons of an inter-state ATM loot-and-robbery gang were arrested from an apartment near Bhankrota under the limits of Bagru police station area on Sunday afternoon after a door-to-door search operation.


A pistol, wires, hooks, chains and a camper vehicle used for uprooting ATMs were seized.

The accused have been identified as Ajay Singh (31) of Kotputli near Jaipur, Tejpal Gujjar (22) of Patan village in Sikar district, Deepak Meena (20) of Sanwalpur village in Sikar district, Sunil Kumar (20) of Basai village in Kotputli, Ravi Soni (21) of Narnaul in Haryana, Rahul Choudhary (20) of Narnaul and Deepak Soni (24) of Shahpura in Jaipur rural.

According to DCP (Jaipur West) Kavendra Singh Sagar, a local resident had called up a beat constable to inform about heightened activities of some suspects living in the apartment located near Omaxe City for the past two months.

“Apart from the arrested accused, two gang members are currently on the run,” he said.

In order to corner the suspects, a team drawn from five police stations, along with specialised crew of armed cops, descended on the building at 10.30am. Over 200 cops then began a door-to-door search operation in 300 flats. Police teams knocked at every door and checked the apartments. Residents were told not to raise an alarm. Around the same time, commando crew blocked the entry and exit gates in the compound, while other units quietly moved upstairs using elevators, fire exits and stairs.

Talking to TOI, additional DCP (West) Bajrang Singh said acting on the informant’s input, one team quietly reached the second floor of the apartment. The team signalled other crew members to cordon off the apartment in order to stop suspects.

The cops broke open the door and found seven accused inside the apartment. They were escorted by heavily armed guards and taken to Bagru police station for interrogation.

Singh said the operation was conducted at about 1.30pm. “One of the gang leaders fled even before the police operation. Efforts are being made to arrest him,” he said.

Preliminary investigation has pointed out that all the accused are notorious criminals who have several cases pending against them across multiple police stations in Rajasthan and Haryana.

The accused were living here on a rented accommodation. Sources informed TOI that apartments were constructed for Economically Weaker Sections (EWS). “The security system here is very lax with nobody keeping a watch over visitors,” said an official.

In July, police in an operation had arrested seven members of a Haryana-based gang involved in abduction of a businessmen on the pretext of Bitcoin trading from Bhankrota.