Dropped phone leads Bengaluru police to armed robbery gang

Bengaluru: A mobile phone accidentally left behind by one of the robbers proved to be the key clue in cracking a daring armed robbery at a jewellery store on the city's outskirts.On the night of Jan 27, a gang armed with a country-made pistol barged into Ramdev Jewellers, at Dasanapura in Madanayakanahalli, and fled with about Rs 50,000 in cash and gold ornaments. Though the robbery lasted only a few minutes, the gang made a critical error while escaping. Police recovered a mobile phone from the shop, which the staff said had been dropped by one of the miscreants. The handset belonged to Arun J, a hotel waiter in his late 20s from Jodhpur, Rajasthan. Call records showed he had been in frequent contact with a Bengaluru number registered in the name of Anoop Singh.
While one police team went to Rajasthan to verify Arun's background, another traced Singh to a sari shop in Kadugodi, where he worked as an assistant. He was picked up and allegedly confessed, revealing that the robbery was planned with his friend Ankith Nath to clear debts. Further arrests followed in Rajasthan, with police recovering gold, the pistol, and live ammunition.