KOZHIKODE: The accused, who robbed money from bank employees in Pantheerankavu and fled, has been arrested. The police have arrested the accused identified as Shibin Lal, who fled with Rs 40 lakh. He was arrested from the premises of Calicut University Friday morning.

The accused was going to Kozhikode from Thrissur. The police got information of Shibin Lal in an investigation conducted focusing on the tower location. Meantime, the stolen money has not been recovered. The accused has been brought to the office of Feroke ACP. He is being questioned.

The incident happened in Pantheerankavu on Wednesday at around 1 pm. Shibin Lal snatched a black bag containing money from the hands of Aravind, an employee of ESAF Bank. The incident happened in front of Akshaya Finance on the road going to Mangavu from Pantheerankavu. Shibin Lal extorted money from the employees by misleading them that the gold pledged at Akshaya Finance could be moved to ESAF Bank and that Rs 40 lakhs were needed for this.

Eight bank employees of ESAF came with Shibin in a car and an auto to provide security for this money. They parked their vehicles near the BSNL office on Manakadavu Road in Kozhikode and two of them got out. As Shibin Lal asked them not to accompany him to Akshaya Finance, the others sat in the car itself. Two walked with Shibin Lal carrying the bags. While crossing the road, Shibin Lal got on a scooter parked nearby and drove away with the money. The footage of this was captured on CCTV.