A Delhi businessman was robbed of Rs.7.69 crore in cash at gun point in a meticulously planned highway heist here Tuesday, police said.
Rakesh Kumar Kalra lost the money as a group of armed men made away with his car stashed with the cash while he was arguing with the occupants of another car that halted suddenly ahead of his vehicle, causing a collision.
The entire crime took place on an otherwise busy road in Lajpat Nagar in south Delhi, close to a Delhi Metro station.
Police, who reconstructed the crime, said the robbers used two cars: a Wagon R and a Verna.
Kalra, who deals in property, was going towards central Delhi from his Greater Kailash-I office in south Delhi around 9 a.m. with three associates and a driver in his Honda City car.
A Wagon R, bearing press sticker, overtook Kalra's car and suddenly stopped in front of it. Its occupants got into a heated row with Kalra as the two cars collided.
That is when the Verna car turned up. Its occupants sprang out and held the businessman immobile at gun point.
While one group of robbers escaped from the spot in Kalra's car which had Rs.7.69 crore in bags, the other group sped away in the Verna car, a police officer said. The robbers' Wagon R car that Kalra's Honda City tailgated was left behind.
The entire operation, clearly carefully planned, lasted around 20 minutes.
Kalra and his associates made two calls to police form their mobile phones.
Police said they were verifying the origin of the looted amount. They also did not rule out the possibility of Hawala (informal value transfer system) transaction.
They have also questioned driver Subodh and three other associates of the businessman.
Some three hours after the robbery, police traced the Verna car, bearing a Haryana registration plate, at Jangpura in south Delhi.
Kalra's Honda City was found on a flyover near Sewa Nagar, near Defence Colony, also in south Delhi, but minus the money.
Both the cars used in the crime were stolen, said an officer.
According to a police official, the Verna car was registered in a woman's name at an address which has turned out to be fake.
The name of the woman's husband or father was not mentioned in the registration record, and the address given was non-existent.
The Wagon R car belongs to a businessman in Ghaziabad, and was stolen a week back from Delhi's Jahangirpuri area.
Police have collected video footage form the CCTV cameras installed near the Lajpat Nagar Metro station and other roadsides.
