THANE: Police on Thursday claimed to have solved an early-morning robbery at a petrol pump in Maharashtra's Thane with the arrest of five persons including an employee.
Unidentified persons had looted Rs 27.5 lakh in cash from a petrol pump in Kapurbawdi area in the wee hours of January 31.
During the probe, Rs 15 lakh were found buried in puja room at the house of Vinod Kadam, one of the accused, in Satara district, said deputy commissioner of police Dr Vinaykumar Rathod on Thursday.
The accused apparently spent the rest of the money, he told reporters.
A team of Kapurbawdi police station headed by senior inspector Uttam Sonawane scanned the footage of some 35 CCTV cameras during the probe.
Police got a tip-off that a serving or former employee possibly helped the robbers by giving them a key to the automatic lock of the office where the safe was kept, the DCP said.
Police first arrested Nayan Pawar (20), a former employee, from Kadegaon in Sangli district. His arrest led them to Sudhakar Mohite (34), Vinod Kadam (26) and Bhaskar Sawant (27), and later to a fifth accused, Ritesh Mandavkar (29).
Mandavkar, who was working at the petrol pump at the time of the crime, allegedly gave the key to the office to the co-accused.
Vinod Kadam has prior offences registered against him at Vatar and Pusegaon police stations, while Sudhakar Mohite was wanted in cases in Satara as well as Karnataka, police said.
Sawant too has cases registered against him at Vaduz police station in Satara, they added.
