Three persons, including a police constable, were arrested by the Bengaluru police in “record time” in connection with a sensational robbery case in which the perpetrators, posing as Reserve Bank of India (RBI) officials, stopped a cash van and fled with ₹7.11 million crowns.
Bengaluru police have now explained how the case was solved and three members of the gang were arrested.
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Police Commissioner Seemant Kumar Singh told reporters, “We have formed eleven teams and deployed 200 policemen and personnel for the job. More than 30 people have been questioned and three have been arrested. They are vehicle conductors, former employees of CMS Info Systems and a police constable posted at Govindapura police station,” according to ANI.
Singh added that six teams of Bengaluru police have been sent to all states in South India and Goa to track the criminals involved in the robbery.
How the crime took place
Unidentified men posing as RBI officials seized the ATM of CMS Info Systems. The van was carrying cash from a private bank branch in Bengaluru’s JP Nagar.
The car used by the criminals also had a Government of India sticker. The criminals stopped the van, claiming to be government officials and needing to verify their documents. They forced cash delivery employees to get into their own vehicle along with suitcases of cash.
CMS Info Systems employees were later dropped near Dairy Circle while the criminals fled with the money.
During their escape, the gang made several stops in areas not covered by CCTV. They also did not use any mobile phones during the robbery and spoke several languages to mislead the investigators.
A Bengaluru police press release also revealed that multiple vehicles were used during the heist and the robbers often changed license plates to escape detection.
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The extra notes that were stolen were not serialized by the bank, making it difficult to trace.
How Bengaluru Police cracked the case
Bengaluru police mobilized a massive multi-layered operation to nab the culprits.
A team of 11 Police Inspectors, 2 Deputy Commissioners and six Central Criminal Police Inspectors was formed and supervised by senior staff.
Leads were tracked across Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana as well as Goa.
More than 30 people were interviewed and CCTV, local intelligence and vehicle movement patterns were analysed.
Both the accused and the vehicles used in the robbery were identified within the first 24 hours.
One of the accused is a police officer
Bengaluru Police revealed that the three accused individuals were apprehended within 54 hours of the crime.
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One of the accused is police constable Annappa Naik, along with Xavier, a former employee of CMS Info Systems, and also Gopi, the operation commander.
The gang is estimated to have six to eight members.
