PATNA: Subodh Singh alias Babua, locked inside a Purnia jail, does not fit the image of a conventional gangster. Soft-spoken and operating mostly from the shadows, the 42-year-old Nalanda native has nevertheless earned notoriety across India as the elusive “Golden Thief” — a man police allege continues to mastermind high-value gold robberies from inside prison walls.The latest case linked to him is a daring daylight robbery at a jewellery showroom in Karimnagar, Telangana. Armed gang members stormed the shop, injured four employees and escaped with nearly 1.6kg of gold and diamond jewellery. Police claimed the robbers used pre-downloaded digital maps to navigate escape routes and later identified Subodh as the alleged mastermind behind the operation.Police suspect the plan was coordinated remotely through smuggled communication devices from inside jail.Originally from Chistipur village in Nalanda district, Subodh comes from a modest background and studied up to Intermediate level. According to police, he initially worked as a police informer in Bihar, learning law enforcement methods and surveillance techniques before entering organised crime.By the mid-2000s, he had allegedly built a sprawling inter-state robbery syndicate targeting jewellery shops, banks and gold finance companies. His network spread in Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Telangana.Police dossiers describe a highly disciplined network skilled in reconnaissance, stolen vehicle operations and rapid execution of robberies. Authorities believe looted gold was often melted or routed through illegal channels in Nepal and West Bengal.Subodh first hit national headlines in Jan 2018 when Bihar’s Special Task Force arrested him in Patna and recovered around 15kg of gold linked to a jewellery heist. Despite remaining behind bars since then, police in different states allege he continued directing operations through illegal cellphones and video calls.Recently shifted from Beur Central Jail in Patna to Purnia Central Jail, Subodh remains under tight security. Beur jail superintendent Neeraj Kumar Jha denied any connection between the transfer and the Telangana robbery.“We were already in the process of sending him to Purnia jail. Till now, we have not received any official information regarding any case linking Subodh’s involvement. And it is not possible that the robbery was plotted from here because we kept him in the high-security ward,” Jha said.
