Visakhapatnam police nab robbery gang, recover Rs 12.5 lakh

On Monday, Visakhapatnam Police nabbed a robbery gang in the city and recovered Rs 12.5 lakh from the accused. The arrested have been identified as Attada Seetharam alias Chandrasekhar Reddy, a real estate broker and resident of West Bengal, Ambati Santhosh, real estate broker and resident of Vizag, G Muthyala Naidu, working as PET in a private education institution the city, K Shiva Durga Rao, a driver and resident of Guntur, and P Gnaneshwar Rao, resident of Vizag. With the arrest of the robbery gang in Vizag, the prime accused Sudharshan Reddy, who plotted the robbery, went into hiding.

According to the Visakhapatnam City Police, Y Chitti Babu, a resident of the Old Dairy farm area, and his brother-in-law, P Koteswara Rao, met a real estate broker Chandrasekhar Reddy near Dr YS Rajasekhara ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium at PM Palem in August, to buy some gold bars weighing 500 grams lower than the market price. At that point in time, Koteswara Rao was carrying Rs 20 lakh cash to buy the consignment.

However, a white luxury car with a police siren and two persons in a police uniform approached them. While one of them got down from the car and inquired about the vehicle documents, Chandrasekhar Reddy managed to steal the cash. He along with the other person who posed as a policeman got into the white luxury car and fled from the spot.

The victims lodged a complaint at the local police station, post which a special team under the supervision of Sri V Suresh Babu, DCP (Crime), Visakhapatnam. The investigation and the CCTV footage has revealed that Chandrasekhar Reddy, Santhosh, and Sudharshan Reddy are acquaintances. Initially, the trio assured Koteswara Rao to check out some land sites and later they claimed that they are also involved in the gold business. The police investigation further revealed that Chandrasekhar Reddy was involved in cheating cases in Kolkata in West Bengal and Tekkali in Srikakulam district, Anakapalle, Sabbavaramm, Gopalapatnam, and under a few other police station limits in Vizag city also.

The special team fished out clues and took Attada Seetaram into custody on 1 September. The police recovered Rs 50,000/- and mobile phone from the accused. Later on, he was produced at the court in Bheemili on 3 September. Four days later, the special team nabbed the rest of the gang at Convent Junction and seized Rs 1,10,000/-. After the arrest of the robbery gang, the accused confessed to have hidden Rs 10,90,000/- of the stolen cash at Ambati Santosh’s house upon further investigation.