Nashik: Ahilyanagar police have arrested four men for the Sept 8 highway robbery on the Samruddhi expressway near Kopargaon and recovered stolen property worth Rs 1 lakh, including mobile phones, cash and a motorcycle. Whereabouts of two other accused are still to be ascertained.
The robbery took place around 1.15am near pole 508 on the expressway when complainant Abhishek Gaikwad (20), a mechanic from Sakuri in Rahata taluka, was repairing a truck along with another person. Investigators scanned footage from nearly 150 CCTV cameras along the Samruddhi expressway and combined technical analysis with confidential inputs. On Sept 11, police received a tip-off that the prime suspect, Dhananjay alias Dhanu Kale, and his associates were near the Samruddhi bridge at Kokamthan village on the Kopargaon-Shirdi road. A raiding team then arrested Dhananjay (27), Swapnil Bharud (20), Prashant Bharud (20) and Shivranjan Shinde (22), all residents of Kopargaon. Police recovered stolen property worth Rs 1 lakh from the accused, including two mobile phones, Rs 2,000 in cash and a motorcycle allegedly used in the crime.
A case was registered at the Kopargaon taluka police station under relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), following which the local crime branch (LCB) launched a probe.
Police said six unidentified men allegedly threatened the duo with knives, assaulted them and fled with cash and mobile phones. During interrogation, the accused allegedly confessed to their involvement and identified two absconding accomplices, police said. Police said Kale and Bharud are repeat offenders with multiple serious cases registered against them at police stations in Kopargaon, Loni, Sangamner, Ghorgaon and Shrirampur.