Dhanbad clue to Kidderpore bank heist

KOLKATA: After the American Center attack case, the Jharkhand police have once given a key lead for detectives probing the largest bank heist in Kolkata in recent times.
While the Hazaribagh encounter had helped sleuths unravel the former case, a Dhanbad encounter promises to do the same for the Rs 85-lakh robbery at the Kidderpore branch of the Central Bank of India.
The Dhanbad police have informed the detective department of Kolkata Police about three persons in their custody, who they suspect were involved in the Kolkata bank loot.
"We have some leads regarding the Kolkata bank robbery," Dhanbad SP Sanjay Latkar told TNN. "We have informed the DCP concerned to send a team to probe the matter. The team, however, is yet to arrive." Latkar also said the suspects were arrested after a fierce encounter with the police in Dhanbad''s Bank More police station area on January 30.
The three — Tabriz, Salman and Tanveer — are all in their early 20s and speak fluent Hindi. Bank More police station officerin-charge Indramani Chowdhury said it was too early to come to a conclusion.
"The suspects had initially given false names and addresses. They hailed from Patna. In a bid to check their exact details, I went to Patna.
The Bihar police had brought several of their suspected rivals for verification. Not only did they identify them, but also claimed the three were involved in the Kidderpore bank heist."
The OC said since he was not aware of the Kolkata robbery he passed on the information to his superiors. "The three men are in police custody. The Kolkata Police can examine them any time."
The Dhanbad encounter had its roots in a simmering rivalry between two gangs of the area. Rivals of gangster Farheen Khan had planned to bump him off. They roped in a Patnabased gang for the purpose. The deal was clinched for Rs 10 lakh. Of this, Rs 1.5 lakh was paid in advance. The five killers attacked Farheen as planned, but ended up killing his private security guard instead. The gunshot was heard by a mobile patrol van which gave them a chase. The five killers jumped off a second floor building and hurt themselves.
They then jumped into a waiting vehicle. As the police team gave a chase, the injured assailants fired from an AK-47 but ended up killing one of their own instead. By then, the cops managed to catch up with them. One of them died and another fled, but three were arrested.