Surat SBI branch heist: 2 more arrested from hideout on Karnataka-TN border

They identified the accused Vikaskumar alias Chandan Kushwaha (27), a resident of Surat city area who hails from Bihar and Sanjit Rajbhar (25), who is from Ballia district in Uttar Pradesh. THE SURAT Police have arrested two more persons for their alleged involvement in the armed robbery of Rs 50 lakh from State Bank of India’s (SBI) Varachha branch in Surat in April. The arrests were made from an area on the border of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, police said. They identified the accused Vikaskumar alias Chandan Kushwaha (27), a resident of Surat city area who hails from Bihar and Sanjit Rajbhar (25), who is from Ballia district in Uttar Pradesh.Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone 1) Alok Kumar said, “After the arrest of the gang leader Kundan Bhagat, we worked on the inputs and through human and technical surveillance, we found two other accused are hiding at a location on the border of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. Our teams reached there and after a couple of days of surveillance nabbed the two accused on Friday. Police also recovered Rs. 2.70 lakh in cash from their possession.” Police sources said that a total of five cases (four in Bihar and one in Mehsana, Gujarat) were earlier registered against Vikaskumar while Sanjit Rajbhar has one case against him in Mehsana. The robbery took place on April 27, when five to six armed persons entered the SBI Varachha branch, held the office staff and customers hostage and escaped on two-wheelers after looting around Rs 52 lakh in cash. The Surat police then arrested three accused involved in the robbery: Shubham Thakur (24) and Vikramjeet Rajput (30), both from Uttar Pradesh, on May 7, and Miteshkumar Rai, from the North Champaran area in Bihar, on May 30. Kundan Bhagat’s name cropped up during interrogation of the accused. The Surat police found that he was lodged in a hail in Bihar in connection with another case and secured his custody.