A 22-year-old Commonwealth Youth Games gold medalist, who was working as constable for Indian Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), has been arrested in Haryana for masterminding a Rs 16.19 lakh bank robbery along with four others.
The superintendent of police (SP) Special Task Force, Sumit Kumar said Soni (22), who won gold medal in judo (lightweight category) at 2017 Commonwealth Youth Games in Bahamas and is serving the ITBP as constable, was the mastermind of the robbery in the Azad Nagar branch of the Union Bank in Hisar town on 18 April.
A resident of Nangthala village in Hisar, Soni – who has won several medals and earned prize money worth about Rs 50 lakh in various judo competitions, allegedly planned the bank robbery during his practice sessions at a local stadium in Hisar.
Soni was arrested on the basis of a tip-off from near Guru Jambheshwar University of Science and Technology, Hisar.
Soni’s four other accomplices have been identified as Pradeep who is a resident of Bhatla village in Hisar, Sonu who is a resident of Kakadu village in Jind, Vikas who is a resident of Chidana village in Sonepat and Naveen who is a resident of Sehri village of Sonepat.
The STF has recovered Rs 60,000 and a gun from Soni which was snatched by him from the security guard at the bank. In all, Rs 2.40 lakh has been recovered from all the five accused. A local court has remanded them in police custody for eight days.