Sultanpur robbery: Four more accused in police net
Sharing further details, Sultanpur Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Somen Barma said the four arrested accused were identified as Durgesh Pratap Singh, Vinay Shukla, Arvind Yadav alias Fauzi and Vivek Singh. A reward of ₹1 lakh each had been declared on all four accused.
LUCKNOW: With the arrest of four more accused, the police on Wednesday recovered approximately 1.415 kilograms of gold ornaments connected to a daylight robbery worth ₹1.5 crore at a jewellery store in Sultanpur.
So far, at least seven people have been arrested, and one suspect, Mangesh Yadav, was killed in the case. Authorities have recovered around 20 kilograms of silver ornaments and 2.15 kilograms of gold ornaments. The prime accused, Vinay Singh, surrendered in a Rae Bareli court two days after the robbery at the Tatehri Bazar jewellers’ market in Sultanpur on the afternoon of August 28.
Sharing further details, Sultanpur Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Somen Barma said the four arrested accused were identified as Durgesh Pratap Singh, Vinay Shukla, Arvind Yadav alias Fauzi and Vivek Singh. A reward of ₹1 lakh each had been declared on all four accused. They, along with the prime accused Vinay Singh, Mangesh Yadav, and eight others, were involved in planning the entire robbery conspiracy, he said.
“Five more co-accused wanted in the case are still at large. Each of these five wanted suspects has a reward of ₹1 lakh for their arrest,” said the SSP.
Earlier, on September 5, the UP Special Task Force (STF) claimed to have gunned down Mangesh Yadav, who also had a reward of ₹1 lakh on his head, in an encounter with the police in Sultanpur. The encounter involving Mangesh Yadav sparked political controversy when Samajwadi Party supremo Akhilesh Yadav accused the state government and the UP police of selectively targeting criminals based on caste. Mangesh Yadav, who was from Jaunpur, had seven cases of loot, robbery, and theft registered against him in Jaunpur, Pratapgarh, and Sultanpur between 2021 and 2024.
Yadav was an active member of a gang operated by notorious criminal Vinay Singh from Amethi. Singh, with the help of Yadav and 12 others, planned and executed the Sultanpur robbery. The gang of 14 involved in the robbery included nine members from Amethi, two from Jaunpur, and one each from Pratapgarh, Azamgarh, and Rae Bareli, according to another police official.
Singh had a long criminal record with around 34 cases of heinous crimes across five districts, including Amethi, Rae Bareli, Fatehpur, Barabanki, and Lucknow, as well as a bank robbery case in Surat (Gujarat) over the past 17 years. He was arrested about a year ago by the Surat police for the bank robbery at Wajgaon, Surat, in August 2023 and was released on bail two months ago.
“After receiving bail, he restructured the gang of 14 people, including three newcomers, and executed the Sultanpur robbery after conducting a recee of the shop. The gang moved to Rae Bareli after the robbery and dispersed in different directions. Vinay Singh strategically surrendered before a Rae Bareli court on August 31, two days after the robbery, after canceling his bail in another criminal case pending against him,” the official explained.
