The pre-dawn heists in Kerala

It was 2:35 a.m. on September 27 when the control room of the Thrissur rural police station received an alert from the central control room of the local State Bank of India (SBI) branch. There had been a break-in at the bank’s ATM kiosk at Mapranam in Irinjalakuda town, approximately 21 km from Thrissur city, Kerala. A team jumped into the police four-wheeler, its blue light flashing, and reached the spot within 10 minutes. They examined the CCTV footage, and initiated a vehicle check across roads in the district.

Exactly an hour after the first break-in, a second SBI ATM kiosk at Naikkanal, about 20 km from Mapranam, in Thrissur East, was broken into. A third break-in occurred at Kolazhy village, around 6 km from Naikkanal, within the Viyyur police station limits, at 4:20 a.m. Both these fell within the Thrissur city police limits.

Police say they received the alert about the first robbery 25 minutes after it occurred, the second robbery only 50 minutes after, and the third 20 minutes after. It was later revealed that over ₹33 lakh was stolen from the first ATM, over ₹25 lakh from the second, and ₹9 lakh from the third. Midhun K.P., Station House Officer at Viyyur, who was left in charge that night, rushed to the ATM kiosks at Naikkanal and Kolazhy to inspect the crime scenes.

By around 5:30 a.m., the police had identified the presence of a white mid-size SUV without a number plate at all three crime scenes, thanks to the CCTV footage. The initial investigation began based on this lead. R. Ilango, District Police Chief (Thrissur City), passed on this information to his counterparts in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, which proved crucial.

Further examination revealed that the ATM cameras had been spray-painted before the break-in happened. Smoke at the crime scenes suggested the robbers had used a gas cutter.

Also read | Thrissur police get custody of accused in ATM robbery case

Ilango says the police began to suspect the ‘gas cutter gang’, known for similar operations in Mewat, Haryana. “They had also carried out a similar operation in Kannur in 2021, when three ATMs were robbed in a span of about 45 minutes. Their modus operandi involved using container trucks to escape with the loot,” says Ilango, who had been the Superintendent of Police in Kannur at the time.

Evidence later showed that the container had passed through the Panniyankara toll plaza in Palakkad district, Kerala, about 70 km from Thrissur, before entering Tamil Nadu. Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu police revealed that similar ATM break-ins had occurred in Krishnagiri district, just a week earlier.

Also read | ATM Robbery gang caught in Namakkal are from Palwal in Haryana 

As the day broke on September 27, the police had gathered information about the potential gangs involved, their modus operandi, and their likely escape route. Ilango notes, “They specifically target SBI ATMs because those are never short on cash.” Police intelligence also revealed that these gangs often struck deals with drivers of commercial container trucks to conceal the vehicles used in burglaries. These trucks would be returning empty to the northern parts of the country after unloading consignments.

Over the border from Kerala to TN

S. Rajesh Kannan, Superintendent of Police, Namakkal district, says he received a call from the Thrissur police at 5:40 a.m. “I forwarded the information to our senior officers. I also put it on our district WhatsApp group, saying that the gang may come on the Komarapalayam and Pallipalayam road (National Highways connecting Kochi and Salem),” he says. Vehicle check points were activated on the national highways and State highways. The police were looking out for a mid-size white car, but also for a container truck.

One of the many police barricades had been erected at a bakery near the Komarapalayam Junction, in Namakkal, about 220 km from Thrissur. Deputy Superintendent of Police P.M. Imayavaramban, who was involved in the operation, says, “The driver slowed down, but when we stopped the vehicle and asked him to open the container, he accelerated and hit the barricade.” A chase ensued, with the vehicle heading towards the neighbouring district of Salem. “We alerted the Sankari police in Salem,” he adds.

Sankari Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) S. Raja explains that they got a call at 8:30 a.m. “Soon our personnel assembled before the Sankari (Vaikundam) toll plaza and placed barricades to stop the vehicle. But 500 meters before the toll plaza, the truck turned right, again towards the Komarapalayam Road,” he says. The truck did this thrice, taking U-turns each time, he adds. The armed police, on 10 bikes and four two-wheelers, chased after it.

Police personnel brought the accused persons to the Kumarapalayam judicial magistrate court, in Namakkal district.
| Photo Credit:
E. Lakshmi Narayanan

On the last lap, the police decided to meet the container truck head-on, and at Pachampalayam near K.R.P. School, the police stopped the patrol vehicle in the middle of the road and also asked a trucker to block the road with them. The container truck driver swerved over the median, entering the ICL factory road and the Sankari-Pallipalayam State Highway. “The public and parents of students also started to chase the vehicle along with the police,” says K. Murugesan, Namakkal District Crime Record Bureau (DCRB) DSP and the investigation officer for this case.

People on the road get involved

P. Sivaraj, a Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation driver, describes the event like a cinema chase. He had driven his bike to Sankari to visit a relative. “I thought the container truck had hit some vehicles and was escaping from the police. So, I immediately chased the truck on my bike, along with the police,” he says. The police had blocked the road at the Veppadai four-road junction in Namakkal district, he says.

The driver turned the vehicle into an Indian Oil petrol bunk, about 300 meters from the Veppadai police station, at around 9:05 a.m. “There, the truck stopped. I went near the vehicle, but the driver suddenly moved the truck, and it hit my bike. Thankfully I jumped and saved my life,” Sivaraj says.

A. Prakasam, 38, runs a grocery shop at Veppadai that overlooks the petrol bunk. He says he heard loud noises and came out to find the police chasing the vehicle. “Fortunately, there were only a few vehicles at the bunk. Usually, it is very busy. After hitting two bikes and a car, the truck went towards Sankari. All this happened in a couple of minutes,” he says. The other bike rider fell on the road but got up just in time, or he would have been under the wheels of the truck, he says.

At Sanniyasipatti, people hurled stones at the truck in a frantic effort to stop it. Finally, when the truck’s windscreen shattered, the driver stopped, say police. “We surrounded the truck, securing four people in the cabin. The driver, who was the fifth, said two more people were inside the container. We thought they might have guns and if we opened the container in the presence of the public, it would be a safety risk. So, we asked the driver to move the vehicle to the Veppadai police station.” The chase had lasted an hour. But there was more.

On their way to the police station, near Thoppukadu in Paatharai panchayat, the inspector accompanying the driver allegedly heard noises from within, and so asked him to open the container door. The police say one person jumped from the vehicle with a bag, while the driver attacked the inspector. The two men allegedly ran towards the field flanking the road. However, the other person inside the container was caught.

When two members of the police force chased after them, one of the men used a sharp hook to attack one of them, police say. To protect his teammate, the inspector allegedly fired two rounds from his service revolver, injuring the suspect, who was later identified as 37-year-old Jumanuddin from Andhrola village, in Palwal district of Haryana.

The inspector claims he warned the man who had the bag, but he tried to get away, and two more rounds were fired. The two were taken to the Government Hospital, Pallipalayam, in a private ambulance. Jumanuddin, the driver, was declared dead on arrival and Mohammad Azru alias Azar Ali, 30, from Bisru village in Nuh district, went through an operation to amputate his leg.

The spot where the killing took place at Thoppukadu, about a kilometre from Veppadai police station, is surrounded by lands populated with bushes and trees. There is a dry water channel that saw some of the action.

Director General of Police Shankar Jiwal, who is in the Tamil Nadu police head office, says, “We are asking SBI to give us details of similar cases since the modus operandi is clear.” He says this is not the only gang operating in this way, and they have put together a special team for the investigation. “We are also writing to DGPs of different States seeking details of cases of similar nature reported in their States in the last one year.”

Prep before the incident

The police say the investigation revealed the two gang members arrived in Chennai by truck to offload some goods in the city. Three others came by car and two took a flight. They assembled in Chennai about 15 days ago and moved in the truck and the car up to Palakkad. Later they loaded the car into the truck using a ramp.

An officer says, “There was a hole under the body of the truck so that they could jump out and escape easily. If there had been a gap in our chase, they may have escaped easily.”

The gang operates between 2 a.m. and 5 a.m. “The gang targeted a particular model of ATM called Presto, which are vulnerable to heists,” said Namakkal SP, Rajesh Kannan.

Police officers said these criminals hail from Palwal and Mewat districts in Haryana. “One of the accused men, Akram, had allegedly been involved in seven break-in cases — four in Telangana, where ₹74 lakh was stolen; and three in Telangana, where ₹30 lakh was taken,” Kannan says.

Meanwhile in Haryana

While the police forces in Tamil Nadu and Kerala congratulate each other on the cooperation, in Haryana’s Palwal district, a video of the incident went viral. Five of the men were from the district, while two were from Bisru village.

In Andhrola village, where Jumanuddin’s body was brought, anger churned. “My brother has been driving commercial vehicles for a decade but never has anyone raised any complaints against him,” says Mohammad Mubaraq, adding that he had done the Chennai route in the past, and would do long distance trips at least thrice a month. He says that there were no previous criminal cases against him and that in all probability, the gang who robbed the ATMs had rented his vehicle for transportation.

“When a vehicle is booked, how will the driver know about what is being transported and who had rented it,” says Arzida, Jumanuddin’s pregnant wife. The family accuses the police officers in Chennai of conducting an ‘encounter’. Mubaraq says he will file a case against the wrongful murder of his innocent brother. “He has five children and was the sole breadwinner of his family,” he says.

In Lacknakar village, Sayeda, 65, Mubaraq’s mother, says he had met Jumanuddin at one of Palwal’s driving schools. “He had hired him as the second driver for ₹12,000-₹13,000. Apart from that I know nothing else,” Sayeda says.

In Mallai village, Abdul Suban, 70, father of 23-year-old Showkeen, who has been arrested, expressed disdain. “He has never been up to anything productive in his life. After what he has done, I want to disown him,” says the father, who works as a truck driver.

Shabeer, 26, a resident of Ghadavali village and one of the accused, had a similar case of attempted robbery of an ATM in Panipat and was out on bail, says his 75-year-old single mother, Jaibhuni. He had been working as a dairy farmer in his uncle’s business and had left home telling his family he was going to check rental spaces in the capital to set up dairy stores. The family learnt days later that he was one of the six arrested for robbing ATMs in the south, in Kerala.

With inputs from M.P. Praveen in Kerala, Sabari M. in Salem, and Alisha Dutta in Haryana

sivaraman.rajasekaran@thehindu.co.in