Bank robbery: Kingpin detained; ran food kiosk to gather information | Lucknow News

Lucknow: In another discovery in breaking the Indian Overseas Bank case in Chinhat on December 22, the sixth accused Vipin Kumar Verma was arrested in Ghazipur district on Wednesday. Vipin was the mastermind behind the daring burglary, police said.
Vipin, who had a reward of Rs 25,000, was planning to flee to Bihar when he was caught by the Zamania police team near Madanpura Road. With his arrest, only one accused, Mithun Kumar, remains at large. He confessed to the crime and said he provided logistics to the gang that broke into the Indian Overseas Bank branch in Lucknow’s Chinhat area.
Additional DCP (East Zone) Pankaj Kumar Singh said, “We will take all the accused into remand to know about the gang and their planning,” the officer said. Two teams are working to nab another accused, Mithun Kumar. “Vipin drove an e-rickshaw in Chinhat to gather all the details around the bank. He later set up a small food kiosk near the bank which allowed him to observe bank security, public movement and the vulnerability of potential victims.
While running the food stall, he interacted with locals and collected intelligence without raising suspicion,” said a senior officer.
According to the police, Vipin chose gang members from Bihar as they had no criminal record in Uttar Pradesh, which made it easier for them to integrate.
So far, three accused, Arvind, Balram and Kailash, have been arrested, while two others, Sunny Dayal and Sobind, have been killed in an encounter with the police.