Engineering student attempts to loot bank in Telangana’s Wanaparthy, lands behind bars along with husband, three associates

Married woman, pursuing B.Tech, arrested for attempting to loot bank with husband; elaborate plan unraveled by Wanaparthy police in Telangana

A married woman pursuing B.Tech. program landed behind the bars along with her husband after they attempted to loot Union bank’s Amarchinta branch’s strong room in Wanarparthy district in Telangana, nearly 160 kms from Hyderabad. They sneaked inside bank building by removing window grills. 

The woman, 23-year-old P. Ankitha, her husband, 32-year-old R. Jagadishwar Reddy, were arrested along with their 42-year-old relative R. Bhaskar Reddy, and two of their associates 43-year-old M. Nagaraju and 19-year-old K.Ganesh.

Wanaparthy Superintendent of Police Ravula Giridhar, sharing details of the vain bid to loot the bank, on Monday (January 6, 2025) said Ankitha hatched the plot to burgle the bank and persuaded her husband to help her to pay their debts. 

The bank staff realised about the vain bid to loot after noticing the handle bar of the strong room lying on the floor when they opened it on the morning of December 30, 2024 after two days of holidays. Cables of the Digital Video Recorder linking the surveillance cameras were found snapped. While the VDR disappeared, glass window panes of bathroom were shattered. 

“However, gold jewellery, cash, documents inside strong room were intact,” the SP said. While alerting the network of informants, police stepped up vehicle checking in the district. On Sunday (January 5, 2025) afternoon, police intercepted a car in Amarchinta town as part of routine inspection. “They turned out to be suspects. Ankitha emerged kingpin as she admitted to the crime,” Mr. Giridhar said. 

Having completed diploma in Polytechnic, she joined engineering course. While looking for a job, she fell prey to a fraudster who took away five lakh rupees from her having assured to provide job in South Central Railway. This happened three years ago. Deciding to recover the money she had lost, the woman allegedly duped three youngsters with similar promise and collected ₹18 lakh from them, according to the SP. 

Eventually, she got married. “She spent the fraudulently secured money for her lavish lifestyle and Goa trips with husband,” the SP said. On learning about ‘her victims’ approaching police, she disclosed the ‘cheating episode’ to husband and sought his help to come out of the financial mess. “She watched YouTube videos on burglaries and looting banks. She closely examined all details of Warangal SBI’s robbery committed nearly a month ago,” the SP said.