Bengaluru: The Halasurugate police have arrested three police constables from Kurnool for allegedly robbing a person working in a jewellery shop of Rs. 27.5 lakh after posing as Income Tax officials.

The accused have been identified as B V Shekhar, 40, K Satyanarayana alias Satyam, 41, and B Jayanna, 43, all natives of Kurnook district in Andhra Pradesh. Shekhar and Satyanarayana are reserve police constables while Jayanna is a civil police constable.

According to the police, the robbery was reported on March 12. Tipu Sultan, who works in a jewellery shop in Yemmiganur in Kurnool, had received Rs. 27.5 lakh from the owner Aleem Baig and had come to the city to purchase gold in Chikpet. He came in a bus and alighted at Indian Oil petrol bunk near Mysuru Bank Circle. As soon as he alighted, three men posing as Income Tax officials took him in a car saying that they wanted to check why he had brought the cash and took him in a car near Yelahanka. Later, they left him there, took his cash and went in another car. Sultan had filed the complaint the same day.

Police said that there was no clue about who did it except for some CCTV footage. The accused were traced after analyzing many phone numbers and were arrested. When interrogated it was revealed that Jayanna is a crime constable and his informant told him about the financial transaction of the jewelry shop owner. After knowing that, the accused trio hatched a conspiracy to make easy bucks. Satyanarayana’s brother-in-law runs a travel agency in the city and he provided them the cars without knowing about their plan.

Jayanna was giving all instructions over phone while the other two constables along with another accused, Yasin, executed the robbery. The search is on for Yasin and the police informant, who tipped off Jayanna about the financial transactions and gave him the idea of robbery. The accused were yet to distribute the cash among themselves and it is yet to be recovered,police added.