Three held for robbing angadia employees near Aurangabad

Ahmedabad: On Monday morning, the city crime branch nabbed three suspects involved in a robbery of angadia employees near Aurangabad on May 3. Rs 1.10 crore of the Rs2.67 crore robbed was found on those arrested. The action took place as two back to back armed robberies on angadia employees - one at Bavla, and the other near Halol on Monday, leaving one dead, put cops on their toes trying to trace suspects known to be involved in such crimes.
Joint commissioner of police, crime branch, J K Bhatt, said the three arrested are Hitendra Patel and Jayesh Patel, both residents of Sadhav village in Gandhinagar, and Sanjay Patel of Vadnagar in Mehsana. Interestingly senior crime branch officials termed the gang as "Patel gang," while addressing the media.
"We are hunting for Upendra Patel, while Maharashtra police is conducting a similar operation near Aurangabad to nab remaining seven suspects, who allegedly are members ofthe dreaded Anna gang of Maharashtra," Bhatt said.
Deepan Bhadran, DCP, crime branch, said that their team acted on a tip off to intercept the car carrying the three accused near Gota overbridge on SG Road.
"The gang, along with associates of Anna gang of Maharashtra, had kidnapped three employees of T Umesh angadia firm of Nagpur from near Aurangabad on May 3 and looted Rs2.67 crore. They left the angadia employees at an isolated place on the same highway from where they were robbed," added Bhadran.
Crime branch officials said the four suspects from Gujarat received their share of Rs1.10 crore and were coming to Ahmedabad to hide the booty, when they were caught.
"During interrogation of the accused, it has come to light that the same gang, which included Arun Patil, who worked as a reporter in a local Nagpur newspaper, had made an unsuccessful attempt to rob an angadia vehicle carrying cash from Indore to Mumbai. In the end, the gang tipped off Bhivandi police in Maharashtra, who had booked the angadia firm employees for carrying unaccounted cash," added a crime branch official.
Bhatt said two of those arrested, Sanjay and Hitendra, have criminal records. "While Sanjay was booked for vehicle theft in Morbi, Hitendra had a case of copyright infringement registered against him at Pethapur police station in Gandhinagar," added Bhatt.