Three individuals were arrested in India following a robbery involving 70 million rupees (approximately $800,000 or £600,000), where armed men impersonating central bank officials targeted an ATM cash transport van. The incident occurred in broad daylight in the Lalbagh area of Bengaluru.
Local police announced on Saturday that they had made progress in the investigation and recovered 57.6 million rupees of the stolen funds just three days after the heist. Bengaluru police commissioner Seemant Kumar Singh confirmed that three suspects had been detained and that authorities are pursuing two to three additional suspects.
Among those arrested are Gopal Prasad, an employee of the cash transport company CMS, J Xavier, a former CMS worker, and Annappa Naik, a local police constable. The robbery was orchestrated when the thieves, posing as officers from the Reserve Bank of India, stopped the transport vehicle under the pretext of checking paperwork for the large sum of money. The vehicle’s cash custodian and two security guards were ordered into an SUV, while one gang member took control of the cash van.
The suspects employed tactics such as changing vehicles, using fake registration plates, and selecting locations with minimal CCTV coverage to facilitate their getaway with the cash boxes. In response to the incident, a significant manhunt was initiated on Wednesday, involving over 200 police officers across Karnataka and neighboring states, including Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, and Goa.
Detectives are also examining the role of CMS and any potential violations of cash transportation guidelines, with the police commissioner noting the importance of varying routes and timings for the transport vans to reduce predictability.
Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy8j4m45yx2o?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss