3 held for robbing man of Rs 3 lakh on pretext of notes change

Three members of a gang were today arrested for allegedly robbing a man of Rs three lakh cash on pretext of getting his scrapped higher denomination notes exchanged, police said.

Hyderabad: Three members of a gang were on Friday arrested for allegedly robbing a man of Rs three lakh cash on the pretext of getting his scrapped higher denomination notes exchanged, police said.

The accused Venkata Srinivas Pilla, P Ashwin and B Shivudu committed the crime on the night of November 13 after they lured the victim of getting his old currency notes exchanged with the new ones in Seethpalmandi area, Osmania University police station Inspector, V Ashok said.

Two more members of the gang, Pavan and Krishna, are still at large, he said.

Venkata contacted the victim through an acquaintance and went to his place along with Ashwin. He then introduced him as cashier of a state-run bank and assured of getting the old notes exchanged, the inspector said.

"Later, Ashwin asked the victim to accompany him to the bank, while the four members followed them," he said.

While on the way, Shivudu along with Pavan and Krishna, impersonating as policemen, intercepted their bike and started quizzing the victim, who was carrying a bag loaded with cash.

They beat up the victim and threatened him with dire consequences and then forcibly took away the cash, other valuables from him and fled, the officer said.

Venkata and Ashwin, who kept quiet during the entire incident, then made the victim board an auto-rickshaw and asked him to go home. Later, the victim lodged a complaint and a case of dacoity was registered.

During the course of an investigation, police today arrested Venkata, Ashwin, and Shivudu and recovered stolen booty of Rs 2.5 lakh from them. A hunt has been launched to nab the remaining two members, the officer added.