With the arrest of three people on Monday and recovery of `9 lakh out of the `10.5 lakh looted cash, the Delhi Police solved the sensational case of cash van heist in East Delhi’s Pandav Nagar area.
The meticulously planned heist was carried out on December 19 by three men while the employees of Brinks Securities were supplying cash in ATMs of trans-Yamuna area. When the cash van reached the SBI ATM for depositing cash around 2 pm, the custodians of the cash were attacked by two armed criminals, who fired two gun shots and robbed `10 lakh cash kept in a suitcase after overpowering the gunman.
“Earlier, we were informed that the cash amount stolen was `5 lakh but later we were informed that the stolen amount is `10 lakh,” said DCP (East) Omvir Singh.
During investigation, the teams probing the incident tried to get information about gangs operating with similar modus operandi. The cash van had started from Janakpuri in west Delhi and had then come to East Delhi to replenish the ATMs.
CCTV footages from market areas of east and west districts were collected to determine from where the accused had started tailing the van, the officer said.
Investigations have revealed that the accused had gone to Hardwar after committing the robbery and had returned to the area to see what was happening, the DCP said.
“Out of the robbed amount of `10 lakh, `9.48 lakh was recovered. One improvised pistol, country made gun and a Pulsar bike that was stolen from the area of Kashmere Gate”, the DCP added.
The accused spent `52,000 from the robbed amount as they didn’t want to draw suspicion and had even changed their mobile numbers so that they couldn’t be traced, he said.
Sunny, who works as a cab driver, told police that after demonetisation, he had seen several cash vans which supply cash to different ATMs, in the area of Karawal Nagar and other parts of northeast Delhi.
“He observed that there were usually four-five staff members in the cash van, at the time of depositing the money in the ATM. He conceived the idea to loot the cash van and discussed it with his friend Rohit and Rohit’s friend Bittoo who is working as a driver with a BSES official near V3S Mall, Preet Vihar,” said Singh.
Bittoo asked Sunny and Rohit to do a recce of the area near V3S Mall Preet Vihar as there are several ATMs in close proximity. They had even attempted the robbery a day before but couldn’t carry it out.
They first stole a Pulsar bike and fixed a fake number plate at Bittoo’s place and on December 19 and after which they arranged weapons from a person, identified as Ravi, who lives in a rented accommodation in New Usmanpur area. They also got a pistol to use in the offence.
They came near Corporation Bank, laxmideep Building behind V3S Mall and waited for any cash van, said officials, adding that around 12.30 pm, the cash van of Brinks Security, Janakpuri came and deposited money in the Corporation Bank ATM. Since there was a jam near the area, they did not commit the robbery there.
“From there they followed the cash van to Nirman Vihar where another ATM of Corporation Bank is located. There was a huge gathering of rickshaws and e-rickshaws and they decided against executing their plan,” he said.
After this they followed the cash van to Shakarpur area where a SBI ATM is located. There was a long queue of people outside the ATM and they thought that they wouldn’t be able to escape so they dropped the idea, added the officer.
When the cash van reached Pandav Nagar ATM, they saw that there was no crowd outside the ATM. Bittoo remained in the driving seat while Sunny and Rohit with arms in their hands reached near cash van and fired rounds in air and robbed the money.
“He left the motorcycle near Hassan Pur Depot and went to BSES Office near V3S Mall, so that no one could doubt on him. After keeping cash in their clothes, Sunny and Rohit threw the empty suitcase somewhere and took another auto to reach Vivek Vihar where they divided the robbed cash equally,” the DCP said.