The police on Tuesday cracked a case of gold robbery that took place on July 23, 2015 at a shop in Tagarapuvalasa under Bheemunipatnam police station limits in Visakhapatnam.
The police arrested three members of the 13-member gang. Earlier, on January 1, five members were arrested in Jajpur district in Odisha and they were being brought to Visakhapatnam on transit warrant.
The five arrested then were identified as Sarangi Pradhan (kingpin of the gang), Dasu Srinu, Karunakar Sabat, Anant Sahu, and Prabin Nikim. The three held on Tuesday were Bimmo Pradhan, Eswar Pradhan and Rajapu Venkatesh. All are natives of Purbakota village, Jajpur district of Odisha.
Deputy Superintendent of Police (Crimes) T. Ravi Kumar Murthy said that one of the main accused, Avula Subba Rao, was still at large.
The robbery took place when Srikanth, owner of Sai Padma Jewellers, opened the shop at around 9 a.m. and put the bag containing 6 kg of gold ornaments on top of the sales counter and went to the anteroom to check on certain things.
Three members of the gang, who had conducted a recce, entered the shop and made good with the bag.