The crime branch on Sunday night gunned down one of the most dreaded bank robbers in the recent past at Chembur। Ramesh Upadhyaya alias Dabbu, 35, who has about 40 cases (21 of them of bank robberies) registered against him at various police stations across Maharashtra and Karnataka, was killed in an encounter by the property cell of the crime branch near Diamond Garden in Chembur around on Monday.
Upadhyaya, who police say could easily be branded as the most successful bank robbers of all time, had a unique modus operandi। He always robbed banks where women were the majority staff, as they offered little resistance. He always struck in the mornings as soon as the banks opened and never robbed a bank after the 10th of a month.
Says an officer with the property cell, “He was a very shrewed guy who meticulously planned his robberies। He first properly surveyed his targeted. Smart as he was, he would enter a bank wearing good clothes and a tie. He would then find out about the security, staff strength and escape routes at the bank.”
“He would strike early morning as the bank staff would still be settling in and would be caught by surprise। He would also rob only between first and 10th of a month as banks have maximum cash during that time,” he added.
Upadhyaya also always stole a vehicle for the crime and then abandoned it, so that no one could trace him। “He once stole a Mercedes to commit a robbery,” said an officer with the property cell. “He was a fantastic driver and thus never took a chance with anyone else on the wheels. He would drive very fast and beat any chase,” said the officer.
On Sunday night, when he was gunned down, Upadhyaya had come to do a recce of Oriental Bank of Commerce in Chembur. “The officers of the property cell under senior inspector Arun Chavan received information that he was going to come there. They accordingly laid a trap and as soon as he arrived they asked him to surrender. He, however, fired at the police. In the retaliating fire by the police, Upadhyaya was killed,” said Crime Branch chief Rakesh मारिया
Son of a peon in Ghatkopar’s Jhunjhunwala College, Upadhyaya rose fast in his gang and on the crime ladder। Upadhyaya’s father, Shivshankar Upadhyaya, shifted to Mumbai with his family from Jaunpur district in UP in the early ‘80s.
The smartest and most intelligent of all his siblings, Upadhyaya quit studies after class IX and started selling handkerchiefs and scarfs on footpaths in Ghatkopar। It was during this time in 1994 that he came in touch with members of Katta Shekhar Gang and Ashok Jiwani, an infamous robber himself. “Jivani found Upadhyaya really smart and fit to be a member in his gang. He took him under his tutelage and intially used him only as a person who conducted reconnaissance of potential robbery targets. However, with his intelligent planning and meticulous execution of robberies, Upadhyaya soon grew through the ranks in the gang and even dwarfed Jivani so much so that the gang was now called Dabbu gang. He became the brain behind the gang while Jivani lied low,” said the officer.
Upadhyaya was first arrested by Pantnagar police in connection with a bank robbery in 1994। He was soon released on bail and this time started his operations on large scale spreading across Maharshtra and even Mangalore and Bangalore.
In 2006, while robbing Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative bank in Airoli, a brave sub-inspector named Babasaheb Adhav tried to stop him but was shot dead by Upadhyaya. His gang also killed a constable before running away with lakhs of rupees. In 2008 the gang committed three bank robberies in Pune. Police estimate Upadhyaya has committed robberies worth several crores of rupees. His brother, Avdhesh had earlier been killed in a similar encounter by the crime branch.
