The Bengaluru police on Saturday announced the arrests of a police constable and two others, and recovered Rs 5.76 crore in connection with the biggest broad-day heist where Rs 7.11 crore was robbed from an ATM cash-carrying vehicle on November 19.
The arrested have been identified as Annappa Naik, a police constable with Govindapura police station in Bengaluru East, Xavier, a former employee of CMS Info Systems, and Gopi, an employee at CMS.
Bengaluru City Police Commissioner Seemant Kumar Singh said that a gang of six to eight members is involved in the crime, and they have launched a manhunt in many South Indian states.
Throughout the entire operation, no mobile phones were used, eliminating the possibility of electronic tracking, and there was a delay in reporting the crime by the CMS staff, he added.
Singh said that the gang had planned the heist for more than three months and had done recce for 15 days before executing their plan.
On November 19, a gang, posing as Income Tax and Reserve Bank of India (RBI) officers, allegedly intercepted an ATM cash-loading vehicle near Ashoka Pillar at 12.48 pm and made off with Rs 7.11 crore on the Dairy Circle Flyover.
The criminals took control of the cash boxes and abandoned the van by 1.16 pm before fleeing the scene. Following verification of the incident, a case of dacoity by showing firearms was registered at Siddapura Police Station.
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‘Spoke in multiple languages to mislead investigators’
Singh said that the criminals made multiple calculated stops exclusively in areas without CCTV coverage, avoiding any digital footprint. Gang members deliberately communicated in multiple languages to mislead investigators about their origins and identities.
The operation involved multiple vehicles with frequent changes in number plates and identifiers, making vehicle tracking extremely challenging. Adding to the complexity, the stolen currency notes had not been serialized by the issuing bank, virtually eliminating the possibility of tracing them through banking channels, he added.
The operation was led by 11 Police Inspectors and 2 Assistant Commissioners of Police from South Division, along with 6 PIs from the Crime Branch (CCB), all supervised by senior officers.