PMJ heist, planned by notorious criminal sitting in Bihar jail, cracked

Hyderabad: A notorious criminal sitting in the Buer Central Jail in Patna was the mastermind behind the sensational heist at the PMJ Jewelers store in Karimnagar on May 3.Telangana police officials said on Thursday that Subodh Singh, who is also known as the ‘Golden Thief' because of his penchant for targeting jewelry stores and banks, meticulously planned the entire operation from behind the bars of maximum security jail. Five men, armed with pistols, had struck at the store and taken away 1.6 kg gold ornaments worth more than Rs 1.5 crore and diamonds weighing 112 carats. Four employees of the store were shot at and injured in the heist.Karimnagar police commissioner Gaush Alam said they have arrested three of Subodh's associates, including Raghunath Karmakar and Mehtab Khan from West Bengal and Ravish Kumar from Bihar. At least 10 more accused are on the run.Officials refused to give details of how they cracked the case as they are hoping to track down more of Subodh's men involved in the heist. Sources added that the gang members may have already melted much of the gold they robbed from Karimnagar. While Mehtab had helped with logistics, Raghunath and Ravish were involved in the heist and had also fired at the store employees.Subodh has as many as 42 criminal cases against him in different parts of the country, most of them robberies and burglaries. Raghunath and Ravish have seven and 15 cases each against them.Giving details of the conspiracy, Alam said five of Subodh's associates - Raghunath Karmakar, Ravish Kumar, Radhe alias Abhay, Mishra and Suryamani Kumar alias Sanoj - came to Telangana around two months before the heist."They purchased SIM cards from one Mehtab Khan at the Jharkhand-West Bengal border for Rs 10,000 each," Alam said. "They then came to Telangana and visited Khammam, Siddipet, Peddapalli, and Karimnagar to identify a jewelry shop or bank that could be targeted. Finally, they zeroed in on PMJ in Karimnagar."The gang stayed at a guest house at Dharmapuri, about 70 km from Karimnagar. Following instructions given by one of Subodh's couriers, Raghunath boarded a train in Mancherial on May 1 and reached the Chandrapur railway station in Maharashtra. He met two unknown persons, who gave him six pistols and magazines. The next day he returned to Dharmapuri. On May 3, all the five accused left the guest house.Using two bikes that Subodh had arranged, the accused went to the PMJ store, robbed it and fired four rounds, injuring four of the store employees. The five then fled the spot and reached Dharmapuri.Sanoj, Radhe and Pradyuman abandoned the Pulsar bike near the Godavari riverbank, crossed the river on foot and boarded a train from Mancherial. Meanwhile, Raghunath and Mishra travelled on the Apache bike, carrying the jewelry bag to the Gundala forest area as instructed by their handlers. The bag was handed over to persons travelling in a car. Subsequently, three of them reached Bihar by train.