ICICI heist: Bankrupt murder accused banker sent to judicial custody

Palghar (Maharashtra), Aug 6 (IANS) A court in Maharashtra's Vasai on Friday sent the former sacked manager of a private bank, who carried out an unsuccessful heist and killed the deputy branch manager of ICICI Bank Virar East branch, to 14 days judicial custody, police said.

"The accused, Anilkumar R. Dubey, 36, has been sent to 14 days judicial custody by the honourable court. The second victim, who was injured, is stable and is out of the ICU at Lilavati Hospital in Mumbai," Senior Police Inspector of Virar Police Station Suresh Warade told IANS.

Dubey, the Naigaon Branch Manager of Axis Bank, had swoped on the ICICI Bank on the evening on July 29, threatened the sole two women officers on duty, grabbed cash and gold jewellery worth Rs 3.38 crore from the lockers, but was overpowered by locals while trying to escape in his own car parked outside.

Before fleeing, he had savagely attacked Deputy Manager Yogita Choudhary-Vartak, 36, who succumbed, while cashier Shraddha Devrukhkar suffered serious injuries.

After a police team rushed there, the locals handed him over and the bag with the looted booty to them and he was arrested.

Known for his flamboyant lifestyle, Dubey, 37, had piled up a huge debt of over Rs 1 crore with a spending spree on a lavish home, car loans, stock markets speculations, and other activities.

Even as the case stunned banking circles, the Axis Bank management sacked him on July 30 and a day later, registered a separate complaint of a fraud of around Rs 27 lakh he had committed in the bank where he worked for the past one year.

Apprehending action by the Axis Bank and the police, Dubey had kept off work for nearly a week when he planned out the one-man heist at the ICICI Bank - where he had worked for around 18 months - and was familiar with the staffers and the official routine.

"Despite committing such grave crimes, the accused appears remorseless. He refused to meet his wife, their two children, and his mother while in custody when they came to meet him from Nalla Sopara," an official, requesting anonymity said.

The Waliv police will arrest him as soon as he comes out of judicial custody in the murder-cum-bank loot case for which he is facing serious charges, said the official.