Thrissur ATM robbery case: police continue interrogation of accused

The Thrissur Town East police continued to question the five accused of the Haryana-based gang which allegedly broke into three ATM kiosks in Thrissur in the early morning hours on September 27.

The police roped in a Hindi language interpreter to help with their day-long interrogation and record their statements. The Town East police on Friday (October 4) received the custody of Irfan, 32, from Dwaraka Puri; Sowkeen Khan, 23, from Mallai; Sabeer, 26, from Kudavali; Mubarak, 18, from Lacknakar; and Muhammed Ikram, 42, from Bisru, for five days on presenting them in a local court after being shifted here from the Salem Central Jail.

Another accused identified as Jumanddin, 37, of Haryana’s Palwal district, was shot dead by the Namakkal police in Tamil Nadu while the right lower limb of another accused Mohammad Azru alias Azar Ali, 30, had to be amputated after sustaining bullet injuries.

“We collected their fingerprints and their previous antecedents on Saturday. They will be taken to the ATM at Naikkanal on Sunday for evidence collection. They are cooperating with the probe so far,” said Thrissur Town East police sources.

Their arrests in cases registered by the Irinjalakuda police and the Viyyur police for breaking into ATM kiosks within their limits are likely to follow after the custody of the Town East police. So far, only the Town East Police alone have recorded their arrests.

Over ₹25 lakh was allegedly robbed from the ATM kiosk at Naikkanal. Another ₹33 lakh and ₹9 lakh were allegedly robbed from the ATM kiosks in Mapranam in Irinjalakuda police and Kolazhy within Viyyur police limits respectively. The successive robberies took place between 2.10 a.m. and 4.20 a.m.

The accused pulled off the robberies by spray painting the ATM and cabin cameras. The police happened to receive CCTV footage of a white car, details of which they passed on to their counterparts in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. Within hours, the Namakkal police tracked down a container truck hiding the car and the looted money.