After a period of nearly 2 months, the Udaipur Police have finally nabbed two of the 5 accused in the Mannapuram Gold Heist, which was the biggest Gold Heist in India.

As per the information shared with media, the Police informed that Fantoosh Kumar and Prince Kumar, two of the accused have been nabbed today from Nimbaheda, where they were in hiding. The other 3 accused, which also include the mastermind are yet to be arrested.

As per Prafulla Kumar, IG, Udaipur Range, both the accused were hiding in Nimbaheda under false identity. He added that 4 teams from Udaipur Police, consisting of more than 100 police personnel raided multiple places at Orissa, Bihar and West Bengal. During this exercise, they learnt that 2 members were hiding at Nimbaheda, further to which they conducted a raid at the hideout and arrested Fantoosh and Prince. The IG also informed that both the accused have multiple cases against their names are they are habitual offenders. Prince was also involved in the murder of a police officer in Bihar.

The Modus Operandi

The team of 5 that looted Mannapuram Gold office at Udaipur on 29 August, had a person named Guddu as the mastermind, who met the other members while serving a sentence in a jail in Bihar. He gave all the team members code names and explained the Mannapuram Gold heist modus operandi.

The team then moved to Udaipur 15 days before the incident. They conducted a thorough Rekki of the area and cashed in on the opportunity that came their way on 29 August. The members rented a house near Dabok. They carried fake Aadhar cards.  After the gold heist on 29 August,  the members fled to Neemuch and then Delhi,  before landing in Ujjain. At Ujjain they went their separate ways, and the gold was taken by the mastermind, Guddu. On interrogation of Fantoosh and Prince, the Police were told that each member was promised Rs 5 Lakh each. However, since the gold sale had not materialised as yet, and since the gold was still with Guddu, they were empty handed. Hence though the duo have been arrested, no Gold has been recovered yet. A pistol and alive bullet were also recovered from the two accused. The bikes they used for the gold heist were bought at Kota. The accused also said that they had deactivated the Security Alarm system and GPS using special gadgets.