Bank robbery: Rs.63.5 lakh seized in Uttar Pradesh

NEW DELHI - A week after a driver and a guard sensationally escaped in their bank van with Rs.67.5 lakh, police have seized almost the entire money and caught three of five accused, it was announced Saturday.

Delhi Police found Rs.63.5 lakh from a house in a village in Uttar Pradesh’s Etah district. The house owner, Pramod, is on the run.

It was on Jan 28 that driver Gautam, 20, and gunman Sandeep Kumar, 24, fled with the piles of cash money that were to be deposited in HDFC bank’s ATM booths across Delhi.

Gautam, Kumar and their associate Arun Singh, 33, were arrested Wednesday.

The first two were held in Bulandshahr in Uttar Pradesh and Arun Singh was arrested in Samalkha in south Delhi.

Arun Singh confessed that he was the key conspirator, Delhi Police Joint Commissioner of Police (Southern Range) Amulya Patnaik told reporters.

Arun Singh identified the other gang members as Pramod and Sohan and said the looted money was with Pramod in Etah.

The police promptly stormed Pramod’s village and made the seizure Friday.

After the robbery, Pramod was given Rs.20,000 and asked to conceal two gunny bags packed with the looted money.

“Efforts are on to nab Pramod and Sohan,” said Patnaik.

The van driver and the gunman, who had given fake names and addresses to their company, left central Delhi’s Patel Nagar area Jan 28 morning along with their custodians, Suraj and Rajesh.

They loaded Rs.97.5 lakh from an HDFC Bank branch in the van and reached an ATM booth in Alaknanda in south Delhi around 3.15 p.m.

When Suraj and Rajesh went to the booth to load some cash, Gautam and Kumar went up to a guard at the booth where Sandeep handed over his gun so as to avoid any suspicion of their impending conduct.

When Rajesh and Suraj came out of the ATM booth, the cash van was missing — with the driver, guard and money.

As they fled with Rs.67.5 lakh, Gautam and Kumar disabled the global positioning system in the vehicle.

The van was found in Faridabad in Haryana the next day and the empty cash box was recovered Wednesday from Mathura in Uttar Pradesh.

Police are yet to recover the remaining Rs.4 lakh.