MP cash seizure: Arrested trio had looted Rs 1.74 cr from UP

The three persons arrested inconnection with the recovery of Rs 1.74 crore cash from an SUVin Seoni district of Madhya Pradesh had looted it fromKaushambi district in Uttar Pradesh as per a plan involving anemployee of a Varanasi-based bullion trader, police said onWednesday.

The trio was arrested on Sunday after their SUV caughtfire, an officer said, adding that the accused had placed thehalf-burnt Rs 1.87 lakh notes they had salvaged from thebonnet and other parts of the vehicle, on a road.

''The accused identified as Sunil Verma (35), Gyas Babu(42) and Hariom Yadav (38) were produced in the district courtin Seoni on Wednesday which remanded them to judicialcustody,'' Seoni superintendent of police Kumar Prateek toldreporters.

The accused persons are residents of Uttar Pradesh, hesaid.

Initially, the trio tried to mislead the police sayingthey were paid by a Varanasi-based bullion trader fordelivering him gold, the SP said.

However, their interrogation revealed that the triohad looted the cash by hatching a conspiracy.

The incident occurred at a dhaba (roadside eatery)near Kaushambi on January 30-31.

Harinath Yadav, brother of Hariom Yadav, who works forthe bullion trader, is the mastermind if the crime, the SPsaid, adding he was already arrested and is in custody of UPPolice.

The police officer said Harinath Yadav used to carrycash worth crores belonging to the bullion trader to Mumbai topurchase gold and silver.

Harainath Yadav in connivance with his brother and twoothers (Verma and Babu) devised a plan to steal the cash anddecided to stage robbery, the SP said, adding that all theaccused had planned to share the cash equally.

The accused persons wanted to repay the debts they hadincurred for purchasing houses in Mumbai and also settle otheroutstandings, he said.

''As per the plan, Hariom Yadav and two others leftfrom Mumbai for Kaushambi in an SUV on January 29. Theyreached Chacha dhabha near Kaushambi and waited for thearrival of Harinath Yadav on January 30,'' the SP said.

As soon as Harinath Yadav arrived at the spot in anSUV carrying Rs 1.74 crore, the trio attacked it with lathisand a hammer and ran away with the vehicle, Prateek said.

''The trio later stopped the vehicle at an isolatedspot, located nearly 10-12 kms away from the dhaba, where theyshifted the cash in their SUV and escaped via Maihar-Jabalpur-Seoni for Mumbai,'' the SP said.

However, the engine of the SUV caught fire midway inSeoni district, forcing them to stop, he said.

''The accused took out the entire cash along with thepartially-burnt notes of Rs 1.87 lakh from the vehicle andkept the bag on the road,'' the SP said.

However, nature spoiled their plans as a sudden gush of windblew away the partially-burnt notes, following which the triopanicked and fled from the spot in the SUV.

Meanwhile, police were alerted, he said, adding thatthe trio was intercepted near Kurai village by the police, theSP said.

''Villagers found the partially-burnt bank notes of Rs500 denomination lying strewn in a large number betweenBamhani and Kurai villages which clearly reflects that thetrio was carrying much more cash than the seized amount,'' theSP said.

He said the bullion trader had filed a complaint withthe police in Kaushambi that the amount of Rs 40 lakh werelooted from his SUV.

''But the police in Seoni recovered over Rs 1.74 crorefrom the trio. The seized notes included Rs 1.87 lakh in ahalf-burnt condition and another Rs 40,000 which were almosttotally burnt,'' Prateek said.

Seoni police has registered a case under varioussections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the CrPc, he said.

He said the court refused to grant custody of theaccused trio to the Kaushambi police team for want ofnecessary documents.