Udupi : The Kankanady Town Police arrested two persons from Shravasthi in Uttar Pradesh on charges of stealing Rs.10.2 lakh from a grocery shop at Capitanio on the intervening night of July 8 and 9.

Police Commissioner Anupam Agrawal, at a press conference on Friday, identified the accused as Mohammed Nazeer Howsil Khan, 27, and Ilyas Khan, 22, both from Barakatti Mahar in Shravasthi district. The Commissioner said both had arrived in Mangaluru by train through Mangaluru Junction Railway Station recently in search of jobs after hearing that it was a rich city.

While they were roaming around Capitanio, the accused chanced upon the shop, B.H. Traders at Lotus Galaxy Building, a shutter of which was loosely locked. They allegedly broke open the shutter, took away the cash and boarded a North-bound train.

Mr. Agrawal said Kankanady Town Police Inspector T.D. Nagaraj and team visited the shop immediately after receiving the complaint and made inquiries with autorickshaw drivers about suspicious persons. The police were told two Hindi-speaking persons hired an autorickshaw to Mangaluru Junction while Railway officials indicated that they might have boarded Ernakulam-Pune Poorna Express. They also told the police the train must have crossed Satara by that time.

The Mangaluru police immediately alerted the Government Railway Police at Pune, who detained the suspects. The Kankanady Town Police team reached Pune next day and recovered the bag containing Rs.10.13 lakh out of Rs.10.2 lakh stolen cash.

The accused were brought to Mangaluru on body warrant, Mr. Agrawal said and a court remanded them to three-day police custody.

The Commissioner complimented the entire team for cracking the crime in a short duration.

Deputy Commissioners of Police Siddarth Goel (Law and Order) and B.P. Dinesh Kumar (Crime and Traffic), Assistant Commissioner of Police (South) Dhanya N Nayak and others were present.