MAPUSA/PANAJI
Notorious member of Delhi’s ‘Mota Bhai gang’, Rustam Abdul Haq alias Suhag , a native of Khulna in Bangladesh has been placed under arrest by Delhi Police after he was discharged from the hospital.
He is one of the main accused in the robbery of ATM machine at Union Bank of India Porvorim branch in Socorro. Safiqul Mulla from Khulna in Bangladesh and Shafiq Sheikh from Bagerhat in Bangladesh are the other two co-accused. The trio had robbed an entire ATM machine on the intervening night of October 17 and 18 and stolen Rs 19.38 lakh.
Special cell of the Delhi Police had apprehended the three accused on the request of Goa Police after a joint team of North Goa Police and Crime Branch of Goa Police investigating this shocking case identified this and located them in Delhi.
On Wednesday night, Rustam Suhag was injured after he was shot at by the police as he attempted to flee from Anand Vihar locality in Delhi. His leg was injured and he was hospitalised. The other two accused were arrested by Delhi Police on Wednesday at Indira Gandhi International Airport.
The police suspect the involvement of three to four more accused in the matter.
Meanwhile, a team of Porvorim Police is already in Delhi to take over the custody of the three accused. The team is likely to interrogate the accused along with Delhi Police on Saturday following which they are expected to return to Goa latest by Monday.
Interestingly, this is not the first case of ATM theft which has brought this particular gang on the radar of Goa Police and Rustam Suhag is but a history-sheeter who has stuck to the same modus operandi for ATM robbery since 2017.
The gang had previously looted over Rs 25 lakh from an ATM booth at Carambolim, Old Goa in October 2019 and about Rs 20 lakh from an ATM machine at Pernem in 2018.
Similarly, on July 14, 2017, Rustam Suhag, along with other gang members, had allegedly uprooted an ATM machine of ICICI Bank at Usgaon stealing around Rs 3.9 lakh. The gang has also uprooted an ATM machine of State Bank of India on September 9, 2017 at Agarwada village in Pernem taluka, and had stolen Rs 18.3 lakh.
Back then after his arrest for his involvement in ATM robberies across Goa, Rustam Suhag had revealed that this gang identifies ATMs which are not manned by security guards.
