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Ludhiana police crack 8.49-crore heist with arrest of six

By, Ludhiana
Jun 14, 2023 10:45 PM IST

Four days after 10 robbers made off with ₹8.49-crore from CMS- a cash management company’s office in Ludhiana’s New Rajguru Nagar, police on Wednesday cracked the case

Four days after 10 robbers made off with 8.49-crore from CMS- a cash management company’s office in Ludhiana’s New Rajguru Nagar, police on Wednesday cracked the case with the arrest of six accused, including an employee of the firm.

Stolen cash worth <span class='webrupee'>₹</span>5-crore has been recovered from the accused, who conspired and executed the robbery to turn rich overnight. (HT Photo)
Stolen cash worth 5-crore has been recovered from the accused, who conspired and executed the robbery to turn rich overnight. (HT Photo)

Stolen cash worth 5-crore has been recovered from the accused, who conspired and executed the robbery to turn rich overnight, said police. They have no past criminal record. At least five more accused remain on the run.

The robbery plan was spearheaded by Mandeep Kaur of Barnala and Manjinder Singh, alias Mani, 27, of Village Abuwal, who has been driving their cash van for the past four years. While Manjinder has been arrested, Mandeep remains on the run.

Police have issued a look-out circular (LOC) for Mandeep Kaur, suspecting that she may flee the country to evade arrest.

Others arrested are Mandeep Singh alias Vicky, 33, Harwinder Singh, alias Lambu, 30, from Jagraon; Paramjit Singh, alias Pamma, 38, from Kaunke village; Mandeep’s brother Harpreet Singh, from Barnala, and Narinder Singh alias Happy of Village Kothe Hari Singh of Agwad Lopo of Jagraon. Apart from Mandeep, among those on the run are her husband Jaswinder Singh, Narinder Singh, alias Happy, of Jagraon and Arun Kumar of Bhai Ghaniya Colony, Barnala.

Police commissioner Mandeep Singh Sidhu said the accused started planning the heist four months ago. On the day of robbery, they did not use mobile phones to avoid being traced.

The robbers had struck at the company’s office around 2 am on Saturday. After throwing chilli powder in the eyes of five employees, the robbers had held them captive in a server room, before decamping with 8.49 crore in cash. The robbers had also taken away a cash van that was later found abandoned in Pandori village near Dakha. Three weapons were also recovered from the van.

A robbery case was registered against the unidentified robbers at the Sarabha Nagar police station.

Ludhiana commissioner of police Mandeep Singh Sidhu on Tuesday had written to chief minister Bhagwant Mann and the DGP to ban operations of the company in the state over poor security arrangements in their offices.

10-lakh reward for team that cracked case

Punjab director general of police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav has announced a cash reward of 10-lakh for the police team including JCP (city) Saumya Mishra, DCP (investigation) Harmeet Singh Hundal, AIG counter intelligence Simratpal Singh Dhindsa, ADCP-3 Shubham Aggarwal, ACP west Mandeep Singh, CIA inspector Beant Juneja among others.

SIT formed to establish actual amount of loss

Suspecting that the robbed amount is lesser than 8.49-crore, as claimed by the company officials, police have constituted a five-member special investigation team led by Joint Commissioner of Police (JCP) Saumya Mishra to conduct a probe. The Commissioner of Police said that they suspect that the actual robbed amount was 6.33crore. He stated that company officials tried to ‘make the hay while the sun shines’.

He added that Initially the manager of CMS had given handwritten information that a total 11.70-crore were in the office out of which 6.32 crore were robbed. Later in the evening they started claiming that a total 8.49-crore were robbed, however they failed to justify it.

“Manjinder Singh, during questioning, told police that a few days ago the company had filled 51-lakh in the ATMs of a bank mistakenly and the bank had refused to return the money. The company had torn currency notes of 2,000 of 50-lakh value, which had also become a headache for the company officials. Manjinder Singh added that the company officials might have tried to take advantage of the robbery,” said commissioner of Police.

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