Man held with fake pistol, over Rs 10.5 lakh stolen money

Banihal: A man was arrested for looting over Rs 10.5 lakh from a shop after brandishing a fake pistol in Banihal town in Ramban district of Jammu and Kashmir, police said.

The fake pistol along with the stolen money was recovered after disclosure by the arrested thief, identified as Syed Zaffer Shah of Yakmanpora-Pattan village of north Kashmir's Baramulla district, a police spokesperson said.

He said the police acted swiftly after shopkeeper Khurshid Ahmed Shah lodged a written report at the Banihal police station, alleging that an unidentified thief struck his shop when he had gone to offer Friday prayers and decamped with a bag containing Rs 10,54,070 after terrorizing his 13-year-old son at gun-point.

After the incident, special teams were formed on the directions of Senior Superintendent of Police, Ramban, Haseeb-ur-Rehman and all check points were alerted, he said, adding the team raided several places, took assistance of technical teams and also checked various CCTV footages which finally led to the arrest of the accused.

He said the stolen money and the fake pistol were found concealed in a car parked near the railway chowk at Banihal.