Kurnool: Highway robber shot dead

Kurnool: Bhim Singh, the man said to be the lynchpin behind the Rs 5.5-crore highway robbery in AP last month, was allegedly shot dead in a retaliatory fire by a police party from Kurnool which was tracking him, in Jalore district of Rajasthan on Friday. Bhim Singh’s driver sustained serious, injuries.

Kurnool superintendent of police Gopinath Jetti said that Bhim Singh had opened fire at the AP police at about 1:45 pm on Friday. The Kurnool police opened fire and killed Bhim Singh, he said. The police was awaiting details. 

Five special teams had been formed to crack the case, with a DSP level officer heading the team, to crack the theft case. 

When contacted, the Jalore district additional superindent of police Jasa Ram Boss told the Deccan Chronicle that a three member team of AP polic was involved in a retaliatory firing against Bhim Singh. He however, said that the details of the incident is being pieced together for further evaluation.

Nilesh Nandlal, a native of Rajasthan who was running Akshya Rajendra Gems and Jewellery in Hyderabad, was approached by one Nidisha to transport money to Bengaluru. On September 12, one Deepak Karan Choba and Aravind Singh, said to be staffer of the jewellery store, received Rs 5.50 crore from one Akshay Rajendra Lunawath, owner of Kalpadruma Gems and Jewels Ltd, Ahmednagar.

Akshay and Deepak were assigned the task of transporting the money to Bengaluru in a Scorpio (AP09 CW 0880). At about 1.30 AM on September 13, the vehicle was intercepted by two vehicles near Obulavari Metta. When the Scorpio stopped, five persons with deadly weapons threatened Deepak and Aravind to sit in their vehicles.

Subsequently, they abandoned the Scorpio at a place near Peapully and sped towards Nagpur, the SP said.  They left Deepak and Aravind at a distance of 153 kilometers from Nagpur and fled, Mr Jatti said. 

A case was registered under IPC Sections 365, 324, 395 and 397 and investigation is on.