Three persons arrested in connection with bank cash van heist

Three persons have been arrested in connection with the bank cash van heist in national capital in which Rs 10 lakh was stolen in Pandav Nagar area of east Delhi, police said today.
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.
The criminals fired two gun shots and robbed Rs 10 lakh cash kept in a suitcase after overpowering the gunman.

"Earlier, we were informed that the cash amount stolen was Rs 5 lakh but later we were informed that the stolen amount is Rs 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.
"A secret information was received by the police team that the accused would be coming near Cross River Mall on December 25. A raid was conducted and the three accused persons, identified as Bittoo, Sunny and Rohit were apprehended in an Accent Car yesterday afternoon," said the officer.

The accused had gone to Haridwar after committing the robbery and had returned to the area to see what was happening.
"Out of the robbed amount of Rs 10 lakh, Rs 9.48 lakh was recovered. One improvised pistol, a desi katta and a Pulsar bike that was stolen from the area of Kashmere Gate and was used in the commission of the robbery was also recovered," said Singh.
The accused only spent Rs 52,000 from thr 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.

"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, 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.
"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 committed the robbery.
They thought that the number plate might be flashed by police, so Bittoo dropped Sunny and Rohit and sent them with the suitcase containing cash in an auto.
"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," he added.