In a major breakthrough for the city police in the March 29 Kovalam bank heist, a Jharkhand native who allegedly masterminded the entire operation has been arrested here.
The accused, Hari Om Mandal, 25, was arrested from Payattuvila, near Uchakkada, reportedly on Monday by a team led by V.J. Jophy, Circle Inspector, Vizhinjam and J. Rakesh, sub inspector, Kovalam. The arrest was kept under wraps till Wednesday though Mandal was produced in court on Tuesday and remanded in judicial custody.
Team followed
Sources said Mandal, who was posing as a construction worker, had reached Kovalam in January and had allegedly brought from Jharkand the other members of the gang, reportedly 10 or more in number, disguised as migrant labourers, to Kovalam.
He is said to have arranged for their stay in a house near the Kovalam junction. Mandal had stayed in Kovalam, working as a mason, around two years ago, the sources said.
Help from cell phone
The police traced Mandal using mobile phone signals. The Cyber Cell had obtained his mobile number while scanning the calls made to and from the mobile numbers of the rest of the gang before and after the burglary. Gold ornaments worth around Rs.50 lakh and Rs.2.6 lakh in cash were stolen from the Kovalam branch of Muthoot Finance after the burglars entered the bank by cutting the iron grills of the window.
Meanwhile, a police team that was scheduled to leave for Sahibgunj in Jharkhand for a joint operation with the police there to nab the rest of the gang has deferred the trip by two days. One team is already on its way to Sahibgunj, where the rest of the gang is believed to be hiding, police sources said.
Alleged mastermind reached Kovalam in January posing as a construction worker.
