CHENNAI: Greater Chennai Police on Wednesday released video footage of a suspect reportedly involved in the bank heists in Perungudi on January 23 and Keelkattalai on February 20 and announced a reward of `1 lakh for any credible information about him. A total of `33.5 lakh was stolen from the two banks.The breakthrough came after video clippings of the man, who appeared to be in “his mid-30s and believed to hail from in and around Kolkata,” were “positively identified” by employees of both banks as one of the gang members who executed the robberies at gunpoint. The latest development also confirmed police suspicion that the same gang was involved in both heists.VIDEO FOOTAGECommissioner of Police J K Tripathy released CCTV footage of the suspect carrying out a recce in a “nationalised bank in and around Perungudi,” at a crowded press conference here on Wednesday and appealed to members of the public to extend their cooperation in apprehending him. “The identity of informants will be kept secret and a reward of `1 lakh given for credible information,” he said.The minute-long footage, with the background obliterated, showed a well-built bearded man wearing a long-sleeve shirt with magenta, black and white stripes, blue trousers and chappals, moving about suspiciously.An investigating officer told Express that the special police teams went through the CCTV footage of around 60 banks in and around Thoraipakkam and visuals obtained from traffic signal, airports, railway stations and bus stand before zeroing in on the suspect in one of the clippings. “The video footage shows what he was doing at the bank,” the officer said, “He can be seen noting down the location of CCTVs, where the staff and manager were placed, and so on,” he added.STAFF IDENTIFY SUSPECTPolice believe that the man had selected banks on Old Mahabalipuram Road and conducted a recce to identify those that had closed circuit television cameras and those that did not. He was conducting a similar exercise in a “public sector bank in and around Perungudi”, when he was caught in the CCTV cameras of the bank.The officer said the hour-long footage, which showed the suspect walking in halfway, was played to employees of Bank of Baroda and one of them identified him as part of the four-member gang that looted the bank. Further confirmation came when a 15-minute clipping was shown to the staff of Indian Overseas Bank. “Customers are seen coming and going and the suspect walks in at the sixth minute. The IOB staff immediately identified him as one of the robbers,” he said.NAXAL CONNECTION?While the officer said the suspect was believed to hail from West Bengal, Bihar or Jharkhand, another senior official was more specific, claiming that he could be from “in and around Kolkata” because of his appearance, attire and gait. However, both put to rest all speculation about a naxal connection to the incidents.Doubts arose after one of the five members, who robbed the IOB branch at Keelkatalai, spoke to a bank staffer in Telugu, telling him: “Lopalki Po” (Go inside). “We checked with our sources, till now we have not found any naxal connection,” the investigator said.With bank robberies reported from Narasimhapet in Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh last year, investigators wonder whether the gang was involved in those crimes too.STUDENT OR EX-CONVICT?On whether the suspect could have been a student, Additional Commissioner (L&O) P Thamarai Kannan told Express that the man in the video appeared to be in his mid-30s and too old to be a student. “We showed the bank employees one-and-half lakh photographs of students of various colleges in the last five years, but nothing came out of it,” he said. However, police strongly suspect that the “north Indian” must be an ex-convict, as he had meticulously planned and struck at two banks within a month. Nine teams have fanned out to Hyderabad, Bangalore, Jharkhand, Bihar and West Bengal, among other places, to liaise with police in the States and verify whether the suspect figured in their crime records, an officer said. Simultaneously, other teams were conducting checks at railway stations, the airport and bus stand in the city. The suspect’s photograph had also been sent to all police stations. “Police personnel are asking locals whether they had seen the man,” he added. Above all, police are hoping that the video footage released to the media will bring more information about the identity and whereabouts of the suspect.
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