Kasaragod: Kerala Police have arrested four of the five culprits behind the Kudlu Cooperative Bank robbery in Kasaragod district, sources said on Saturday.

Police are probing the culprits’ links with higher-ups even as reports suggested that one of the accused is a local leader of a prominent political party. It was also said that the culprits managed to flee the district with the help of a prominent organisation in the state.

The Lancer car which the accused used to flee and the bike which was used in the robbery have been seized. It was learnt that the accused stayed in the city on the night of robbery. Though they had plans of escaping to Mangaluru by bus, they decided to travel by car.

It is believed that the robbers might have either gone to Mumbai or Bengaluru. The car seized has an Ernakulam registration number and the owner of the car might be from Kasargod. Investigations are on to find the owner of the car.

Though the house of the main suspect was searched nothing was found. Probe also revealed that the person who had called from Mumbai offering to reveal the identity of the accused in exchange of a reward was actually from Uduma and the call was to mislead the police. Investigations are also on to check the caller’s role in the crime and search is on for the other accused.

The conmen looted 21 kg of gold and Rs 13 lakh in cash after threatening the bank staff around 3.00 pm on Monday. Police had recovered a gold chain, which was part of the loot, from near a petrol pump adjacent to the bank.

Police had earlier released the sketch of one of the accused based on an eyewitness’ statement.

A 21-member special squad of the Kerala Police is investigating the case.