According to police sources, a group of gangsters were escaping with a loot of Rs 20,000 from a house in the Ayodhyanagar society on the Haalol-Godhra road on Friday night. A mobile police van followed them after residents raised an alarm, but lost trail after the gang escaped in the ravines.

But as the police had prior information of a gang of house-breakers of Desar active in the region and had some clue about the whereabouts, a team led by PSI Bhandari swooped down at a hideout of known robber Dilip Kalyan Naik in village Machkota. Naik and his men showered arrows at the police, which retaliated with four rounds of fire. Naik was arrested with four accomplices.

According to the sources, Amita, Naik's wife, and another woman Rekhiben, were also arrested from a house in the village.