Karimnagar police crack jewellery robbery case, three members of Bihar-based Subodh Singh gang arrested

Almost 11 days after the armed robbery at PMJ Jewellery showroom in Karimnagar, the Karimnagar police cracked the sensational case by arresting three members of the notorious Bihar-based Subodh Singh gang.

Those arrested have been identified as 41-year-old Raghunath Karmakar of West Bengal, the prime accused in the armed robbery case, 23-year-old Ravish Kumar alias Pradyuman of Bihar, another accused, and 32-year-old Mehatab Khan, a SIM card seller from West Bengal.

The police identified all the 13 members of the gang including those who provided logistic support and receivers of the stolen gold jewellery.

The gold jewellery heist at the jewellery shop on May 3 hogged headlines as the armed robbers opened fire on four employees of the shop, injuring them before fleeing with stolen booty (161.4 tola gold ornaments, 112-carat jewellery) worth ₹82.02 lakh.

Multiple police teams fanned out to Bihar, Maharashtra and West Bengal soon after the robbery.

Presenting the three arrested members of the gang before the media here on Thursday (May 14, 2026), Karimnagar Police Commissioner Gaush Alam said the detailed investigation into the case revealed that Subodh Singh, a notorious Bihar-based gangster, known as ‘Golden thief’, masterminded the robbery.

He is presently lodged in a Purnea jail in Bihar and efforts are on to take him into custody for questioning on PT warrant. Our teams are still on the lookout for the remaining accused who are absconding, he added. The police seized ₹51,000 in cash, two mobile phones and two SIM cards from the arrested trio.

The gang executed the robbery in a well-planned manner by conducting recce two months in advance, stayed in private lodges in Peddapalli and Dharmapuri using fake Aadhaar cards and used two motorcycles with fake number plates, the police Commissioner said.

Pistols procured

The gang procured six pistols, 12 magazines and 16 rounds from their handlers a day before the robbery and opened fire in panic during the gold heist when four brave employees of the jewellery store tried to overpower them. The four staff members sustained non-fatal bullet injuries.

The robbers used a pre-downloaded offline map on their mobile phones and fled towards Dharmapuri on two motorcycles through internal roads to evade police arrest soon after the robbery.

A smashed mobile phone and one of the motorcycles, which they abandoned near the banks of the Godavari at Dharmapuri, provided valuable clues that led to a breakthrough in the case.

The inter-State gang operated in a sophisticated way to evade arrest. They split into separate teams before heading towards different predetermined directions.

The gang was involved in more than 40 cases of robbery and various other offences in Bihar, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Maharashtra and Gujarat. The gang adopted a unique modus operandi to deploy separate teams for recce, execution of robberies, logistic support for escape and sale of the booty, the police commissioner said.

He appreciated the police teams for their swift and coordinated action under the overall supervision of the top brass of the Telangana police in cracking the sensational armed robbery case with the cooperation of their counterparts in other States.