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At least five to six miscreants posing as RBI officials stole a van full of cash worth Rs 7.1 crore in broad daylight from a busy flyover in Bengaluru, in what looks like a well-planned heist.
The robbery took place at a flyover between an HDFC Bank in JP Nagar and HBR Layout, when a van owned by CMS Info Systems was moving cash in three boxes. The heist involved an MUV, two hatchbacks and the CMS-run armoured van.
The incident began when a Maruti Zen hatchback blocked the path of a cash van near Ashoka Pillar in Jayanagar 2nd Block around 12:30 PM. In the van, along with the driver Binod Kumar, were three other individuals: custodian Aftab and gunmen Rajanna and Tammaiah.
Three men got out of the Maruti Zen, which was tailed by an Innova and an MUV, and told the people inside the cash van, “We are RBI officials. There is a complaint against your firm for violating RBI guidelines. We have to record your statements,” according to a report by the Times of India.
The CMS staff quickly fell for the impostors’ ruse. Without hesitation, the two gunmen, Rajanna and Tammaiah, left their licensed single-barrel shotguns in the vehicle and climbed into the MUV with the custodian.
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View AllOne of the robbers told the van driver to go to the Dairy Circle Flyover and “wait for the RBI officials” As Kumar drove on, the MUV carrying the CMS staff and the miscreants closely trailed the van. When they reached the Nimhans junction, the MUV came to a halt.
“Come to the police station and we’ll take your statements. Before that, we should take the cash boxes to the RBI,” the miscreants told the CMS staffers.
Soon, the MUV with miscreants stopped near Kumar. At gunpoint, miscreants shifted the cash boxes into another hatchback — a Maruti WagonR — for inspection by RBI. In the blink of an eye, the miscreants sped away, leaving behind Kumar, his van, and their MUV,” a police officer told TOI.