PNT Colony from where the couple were looted on May 24. Telegraph picture

Patna, June 2: The two incidents of daylight snatching, which hit the state capital last month, have been solved, the city police said today.

The police in Samastipur arrested four members of the “Katihar Gang” and during interrogation, the criminals confided their involvement in the two snatching incidents, which had shocked the state capital. However, the police are tightlipped about the arrests and stated that the men are presently being brought to Patna for interrogation.

On May 24, two motorcycle-borne criminals looted Rs 1.25 lakh at gunpoint at PNT Colony area under Kotwali police station from one Dinesh Kumar and his wife Reshmi Devi.

The couple had withdrawn the money from the Punjab National Bank in the Kadamkuan and had gone to the colony to meet one of their relatives. At around 1.30pm, when the couple were at their relative’s door knocking at the collapsible gate, one of the criminals pointed a gun on Dinesh and took away the money. The criminals were following the couple, the police confirmed.

In another incident last month, two criminals snatched Rs 2 lakh from a couple, who were moving on a bike, in front of the residence of the Patna senior superintendent of police in broad daylight. Police sources said the Samastipur police in cases related to loot arrested the four men. During probe, the men said they were involved in the two cases that occurred in Patna.

“These men hail from Katihar and are a part of the Katihar Gang. They hail from two to three villages in the interiors of the district and all of them are involved in the same crime. They have a specific modus operandi and are active for three to four months at a stretch and after committing successive incidents in different places, they go underground,” a police officer said.

The men, the police said, never use a gun for crime. “This is the first time that they have pointed a gun at a victim in order to take cash. The men in the gang are expert bikers. They are into snatching. They will follow their victim and will snatch the belonging and then flee,” the officer added.

The police said the men were being brought to Patna and will be questioned. “A lot of other incidents can come to light after their arrests. The men will be interrogated and things will become clearer,” the officer said. The police will form a squad whose main duty will be to move around different banks in every two to three days’ and look for suspicious people who tend to hang out near the banks for no reason.