Banjara Hills robbery: Thieves took up jobs as cooks, looted houses
- Punjagutta’s huge robbery case was solved by the police
- Four persons form Bihar were arrested, one absconding
- Rs 65,000 was recovered from the gang
- The police used WhatsApp to alert each other
FollowThe Banjara Hills thieves were part of a Bihari gang. They  would take up jobs in different houses as cooks. Whenever possible, they would come together, take whatever money was available in their respective workplaces and abscond.
 On July 1st this gang robbed the house of gold jewellery businessman Jitendar Kumar Gupta in Naveen Nagar, Banjara Hills Road No.1. The Punjagutta police on Monday arrested five members of this gang. The Punjagutta Poilce station DCP Venkateswara Rao revealed this information on Tuesday.
Jitendar Kumar from Naveen Nagar has a gold shop in Abids. On July 1st he went to Shamshabad along with his family to attend a wedding in a relative’s home. He returned back in the morning.
When he went home he found that 1.29 kilos of gold, silver, Rs 4 lakh worth of watches and Rs 68 lakh in other valuables were robbed. The police registered a case and started an investigation. Since a biometric system is used to enter the house, the culprits removed the kitchen window grills and broke into the house. They smashed the bureau and only took precious things.
The police suspected that it had to be an in-house job and started to probe further. In the process of investigation they found from the family that they had  appointed a cook, a month ago, through a mediator. He was Umesh Kumar Mukhiya Kabad from Madhubani District in Bihar. He lived in the servant’s quarters but was not seen and neither was he answering his mobile.
 Police doubted that he may have been the robber and through the mediator Dinesh gathered all his information. Apart from him, they also gathered information of all the Bihari cooks working in wealthy households in Banjara Hills and Jubilee Hills. They are Hareram Shaney, Upendar Mukhiya, Rajendar Mukhiya and Joyendar Mukhiya.
When their phones were tapped, one person’s phone became available and through the tower location they found out that the culprits after the heist went to Rajendar Mukhiya’s home, shared the loot and in a cab went to Warangal. From there they reached Vijayawada and went to Visakhapatnam in the Guwahati Express. The information was given to the Visakhapatnam police who arrested one culprit. They arrested the remaining members of the gang with the information given by the culprit.
When the train reached the station at 7:15am, the Punjagutta police had already sent the pictures and details of the criminals through whatsapp. The police searched the compartments and at the same time were receiving information from Punjagutta officials. Three minutes before the train was to leave the station, all the criminals along with the loot were caught.
All the culprits are brothers and relatives and they also had previous criminal history. The confiscated 1.29 kilos gold and diamond jewellery, 2.8 kilos silver, 25 watches, 5 cell phones, and Rs 65,000 in cash was recovered. They were sent on remand.
The DCP has warned the people to collect the full details of the workers before recruiting them. He told that even in the past such instances of robbery took place in New Langar House and Balkampet areas. The DCP appreciated the Punjagutta Police for solving the case in 24 hours. He said that rewards would be given to ACP Venkateswarlu, Crime Inspector Ravindar and Sub Inspectors of Punjagutta police station.
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