Chandigarh: Three days after the daring bank heist in Gohana town here, police on Thursday claimed to have cracked the case with the arrest of three persons and recovery of jewellery weighing over 24 kg from them.
In another related development, the owner of the abandoned house, through which a 125-feet-long tunnel was dug to the Punjab National Bank locker room in Gohana, allegedly committed suicide after consuming some poisonous substance soon after he was booked, police said.
"We have arrested three persons today. They all belong to Katwal village in Sonepat district. We have recovered nearly 24 kg jewellery and some cash from them," Rohtak Range IG, A K Rao told PTI over phone.
He said gold and silver jewellery weighing nearly 24 kg and over Rs 60,000 cash has been recovered from the accused.
Those arrested include Surender, son of Jagdish, Balraj, son of Dharampal and Satish, son of Ram Krishan, all residents of village Katwal, Sonepat.
While Surender and Balraj were nabbed earlier in the day, Satish was nabbed in this evening.
The other accused who have allegedly been found involved in the crime include Rajesh, son of Krishan, a resident of village Katwal and Mahipal, who allegedly committed suicide.
Rao said that to maintain transparency, a committee of five locker holders as well as a Magistrate were present during recovery of stolen property.
Still photography and videography have also been done of the recovered jewellery.
Sonepat Superintendent of Police Arun Nehra said the accused Surender alias Kala alias doctor, worked as a laboratory technician in Sonepat.
Preliminary investigations reveal that the accused were notorious characters of the area, though they did not have any serious criminal history.
Nehra said based on statement of the accused, the owner of the abandoned house was also been booked, but he allegedly committed suicide.
"The owner of the house, Mahipal, actively supported and connived with the main accused and also played the role of the advisor in the incident. However, Mahipal today consumed some poisonous tablets and was rushed to a hospital where he was declared as brought dead. A case of suicide had been registered," the SP said.
Cash and jewellery, believed to be worth crores of rupees, were stolen from the bank's Gohana branch, on the intervening night of Saturday and Sunday and the incident came to light on Monday.
The robbers had dug a 125-feet-long and 2.5 feet wide tunnel to the bank from an house, lying unoccupied for past 4-5 years, to carry out a Bollywood style heist.
They randomly targeted the bank lockers and managed to break 77 of a total 350 lockers at the bank which is located in a residential-cum-commercial area of the town.
According to bank's Branch Manager, the branch was one of the oldest and was having nearly 35,000 account holders, with saving deposits of about Rs 125 crore.
After the incident, an Special Investigation Team was formed to probe the case and Haryana Director General of Police, S N Vashisth, who was among the senior officers to visit the crime spot, had announced a reward of Rs 10 lakh to the person who would give clue to the police about the heist.
