Three students allegedly pulled off a heist at a mobile phone store in Bengaluru’s Sanjaynagar on September 28. While fleeing in their vehicle, the trio jumped several traffic signals and generated challans, which paved the way for the police to catch them 36 hours later.
The three accused — identified as Ajay Kumar, Prabhu and Mounesh — are all 20-year-olds and second-year BCom students in different private colleges. The trio are from the HSR Layout with no criminal history, a Times of India report said.
Ajay and Prabhu, were in need of Rs 50,000 to pay as compensation for a car they damaged in an accident last year. The two, while riding a two-wheeler, had rammed a car in Koramangala, leaving a dent on the vehicle. As the car’s owner threatened them with a police complaint, the two boys agreed to pay for the damages which costed up to Rs 50,000.
An investigating officer has said that the two found it difficult to come up with money. Adding Mounesh to their duo, the three hatched a plan to loot a mobile shop so that they can sell the devices and quickly arrange the amount, the officer added.
The shop was spotted by one of them on New BEL Road. “The mobile shop had watches and laptops too. Two months ago, they watched videos online on how to break the locks of shop shutters. They visited the shop several times to confirm there was no CCTV cameras inside. They also visited the shop one night, took measurement of the locks and purchased a cutter,” the officer was quoted as saying by ToI.
Following their pre-loot plan, the trio — in a minivan — reached the area around 10:30 pm on September 28 and parked it near the shop. Before breaking open the shutter, they covered the front of the shop with tarpaulin and then walked into the shop.
Their plan was further perfected with the timing of heavy rain which led to lesser people moving on the road.
They quickly cleared out the store, stealing over 200 watches, almost a dozen laptops, 11 Samsung phones, 29 iPhones, and nearly a dozen handycams, totaling over Rs 50 lakh. After this, they loaded all the items into their minivan and sped way in less than half an hour.
Reportedly another officer said that the trio’s car jumped four signals while passing New BEL Road and Sadashivanagar police station junction, adding that the traffic violation helped the cops during investigation.
Following the heist, the owner of the shop filed a complaint on September 29. The police inferred that the articles would have been taken away in a vehicle, after which they scanned the CCTV footage of all the traffic signals in the area.
“The manner in which their car jumped the signal made us suspect its inmates. Another bit of CCTV footage from neat the shop showed that the same car had been parked near the shop,” the officer said. While tracing the car, the police was led to Ajay Kumar on the morning of September 30, after which he broke down and told the truth, he added.
The stolen articles were kept in the houses of the trio.
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