Graduate in dummy candidate scam turns to robbery; four held in Rs 25 lakh Davarwadi bank heist

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar

The local crime branch arrested four friends within twelve hours for assaulting a bank clerk and looting Rs 25 lakh meant for farmer subsidies on Saturday. police superintendent Dr Vinaykumar Rathod said the entire amount has been recovered.

The arrested accused are Bharat Rupekar (30) and Vishnu Bodhne (24) of Nanegaon, Sachin Solat (35) of Rahulnagar, and Vishal Chandane (24) of Akhatkheda in Paithan taluka. Clerk Ganesh Pahlwan was carrying the cash on the Paithan–Pachod road around 11 am when two masked men attacked him with stones and fled with the money. Following SP Rathod’s orders, crime branch inspector Samratsing Rajput and Pachod assistant police inspector Sachin Pandit launched the probe.

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Suspicious branch visit exposes mastermind

CCTV footage showed Bharat behaving suspiciously. Despite living only 2 km from the Davarwadi branch, he visited the Paithan branch and appeared to tail clerk Pahlwan. Background checks revealed previous offences, including a dummy candidate case in the 2017 police recruitment exam. A technical team detained him, and he confessed. Police later intercepted a car preparing to leave Paithan and arrested the remaining three.

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Planned Share: Rs 10 lakh for him, Rs 5 lakh for each accomplice

Bharat, familiar with the bank’s cash movement, planned the robbery and kept Rs 10 lakh aside while allocating Rs 5 lakh each for his associates. The team was arrested before they could escape. Assistant police inspector Santosh Misale and team executed the operation.