The Manipur Police on Monday claimed that a license pistol used in the Churachandpur ATM robbery was recovered from one of the three suspects arrested in connection with the case.
The seized license pistol (0.32 calibre revolver) was registered in the name of Khongkham Brojen Singh, one of the three Writers Safeguard Group (WSG) employees arrested by the police.
Police said, during the course of investigation it has also been found that Brojen planned the robbery and was executed by Somen in connivance with Thangkhanmuan. It has been reported that Brojen gave his license gun along with six live ammunitions to Somen.
Somen hid the same weapon in an unused ATM booth and later the weapon was picked up by Brojen, the same day when the incident occurred, with only four rounds inside the chamber, police added.
Brojen was arrested on September 8 and the same weapon used in the crime was recovered from his residence along with the ammunitions, police said.
The accused Brojen, V Thangkhanmuan and K Somen Singh were arrested last Wednesday. The trio was with the deceased Arambam Ranjan (employees of WSG) who was killed in the robbery, on duty for depositing money in ATMs.
On September 4 morning, armed miscreants shot at Arambam Ranjan, who was guarding cash transporting van before robbing around 1.15 crore rupees. Rajan succumbed to his injuries.
In connection with the incident, a case was registered at Churachandpur police station under FIR number 67(09)2020 CCP PS u/s 392/302/34 IPC & 25 (1-C) Arms Act r/w 120 B IPC.
During the course of investigation police also found out that Brojen, Thankhanmuan and Somen were siphoning money supposed to be deposited in the ATMS for the past five years to the tune of over Rs. 2 crore. A sum of Rs. 20 lakh was recovered from one of the three accused by the police.
