The Karnataka Police have launched a hunt for the robbers involved in a shocking Rs 7.11 crore daylight heist in Bengaluru. The FIR filed in the case reveals chilling details of how the robbers, posing as officials from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), threatened the driver at gunpoint, forced the custodian and two gunmen out of the vehicle, and carried out the robbery.
It has also come to light that the gang removed the DVR from the cash-refill vehicle.
The complaint was filed by 47-year-old Vinod Chandrar, branch manager of CMS Info System Limited, located in HBR Layout. Every day the company withdraws cash from the HDFC Bank currency chest in ITI Layout, J.P. Nagar, Bengaluru and deposits it into ATMs across the city.
According to the FIR, on November 19 at 9:30 a.m., under the supervision of custodian Aftab, the company vehicle — a Tata Yodha bearing registration GJ-01-HT-9173 — with driver Binod Kumar and gunmen Rajanna and Thammaiah left for duty. At 12:30 p.m., Rs 7.11 crore in cash was withdrawn from the HDFC Bank currency chest, loaded into the truck, and taken for ATM refilling.
The complaint says CMS fleet manager Faroq Pasha received a call from driver Binod Kumar, who told him that while travelling from Ashoka Pillar towards Lalbagh Siddapur Gate, five to six men arrived in an Innova bearing registration KA-03-NC-8052. They identified themselves as RBI officials and ordered custodian Aftab and gunmen Rajanna and Thammaiah to get out of the vehicle and sit inside the Innova.
They then ordered Binod Kumar to drive the cash-refill vehicle. Binod later said he did not know where his colleagues had been taken. He added that the gang threatened him with a gun and robbed Rs 7.11 crore in cash on the Dairy Circle flyover.
The complainant said he immediately checked the vehicle's GPRS and confirmed it was near Dairy Circle on Hosur Road. Security manager Syed Amzad Pasha alerted the police control room. A company technician later informed them that the robbers had taken away the DVR installed in the truck.
Preliminary investigations show the robbery occurred on a stretch falling under the jurisdiction of three police stations — the flyover where the incident took place lies at the intersection of these limits. The gang also snatched the mobile phones of all four staff members.
It may be recalled that the major daylight robbery in Bengaluru took place on Wednesday, when a gang looted Rs 7.11 crore from a vehicle transporting cash for ATM refilling.
Bengaluru Police Commissioner Seemanth Kumar Singh has placed the city on high alert. Authorities have ordered intensified vehicle checks, especially at city borders, and set up barricades to prevent the accused from fleeing Bengaluru.
Police said the gang used a fake number plate on the Innova; the plate KA-03-NC-8052 had been fitted onto the Innova but actually belongs to a Swift registered in Kalyan Nagar.
Questions have been raised about the late reporting of the incident by the cash-refill staff and why the gunmen present did not use their weapons. All these angles are being thoroughly investigated.
(With inputs from IANS)
