Indore (Madhya Pradesh): The prime accused of robbery at the house of IOCL depot’s manager was finally arrested after six days from Alirajpur district late on Thursday. He along with his accomplices had managed to flee with the car of the complainant after robbing him in London Villas Township. The incident had rocked the city as the CCTV of the incident was widely circulated on social media. Additional DCP (crime) Rajesh Dandotiya said that 26-year-old Somla Badan Singh, a resident of Badi Kadwal village under Bori police station in Alirajpur district was arrested by a police team.
Police claimed that he is the prime accused and was involved in the robbery at IOCL depot’s manager Pushpendra Singh’s house in London Villas under Lasudia police station in the wee hours of February 23. They entered Pushpendra’s house after breaking open the central lock and reached the first floor of the house where Pushpendra, his wife and two children were sleeping.
They attacked Pushpendra and managed to flee with valuables worth lakhs of rupees and his Honda City car parked outside the house. Before committing the robbery, the accused had turned the direction of the CCTV from outside to the room where the family members were sleeping. The voice of the accused was captured in the video. They threatened Singh and his wife and snatched gold ornaments and cash from them.
They had stolen the key of his car and Singh came to know about the same after finding his car missing from the parking lot. The accused were captured in CCTV footage entering the township after climbing a tree at the backside of the colony. Various teams from Indore, Dhar, Jhabua and Alirajpur were constituted and different tasks were given to them to identify the gang. However, police are still clueless about his aides till the filing of the report.
Accused crossed toll plaza to mislead police
After committing robbery, accused Somla and his accomplices reached Kalidevi area in Jhabua district via Indore-Ahmedabad highway. They crossed the first toll plaza to mislead the police. When Pushpendra received the message of fastag fee deduction on his mobile phone, he immediately informed the police. After crossing the toll plaza, Somla and his accomplices removed the fastag from the car and also removed the number plate from the car and left the car on the highway. Police recovered the car from the highway but were clueless about the accused.
Indore police team caught accused
A team led by inspector Janak Singh Rawat, who is posted in the DRP Lines in the city, had received crucial inputs about Somla. They caught the accused with the help of Alirajpur police. Other teams collected evidence about other accused. So far, police have been able to identify only Somla and said that investigation is underway and the arrested accused is being questioned further. Police claimed that three debit and credit cards, four cheques, Rs 1000 in cash, the complainant's voter ID and his wife’s PAN Card were recovered from him.
Accused got injured in road accident
Banganga police station in charge Neeraj Birthare informed the Free Press that Somla got injured in a road accident while being on the run. He was riding a bike when a vehicle hit him due to which he received injuries in his legs and other parts of the body.
Questions arise over time, place of arrest
Sources claimed that the accused arrested by the police has not confessed to his crime till the filing of the report while police claimed that Somla was involved in the crime and he is the prime accused in the case. Also, there are contradictions on the arrest of the accused. Officially the police said that he was arrested from a field near his village while a source from the police informed that he was arrested from the Gujarat border.
Another police version says that he was caught from a field when he had gone to meet his father, who is suffering from some ailment. The accused has not confessed to his crime while police insist that he is the prime accused in the case. Sources claimed that Somla was detained three days after the incident (Monday) but the police claimed that he was arrested around 3 am in Badi Kadwal area.
