The Hindu : New Delhi News : Bank robbery solved

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Apr 25, 2005

New Delhi

New Delhi

Bank robbery solved

Staff Reporter

Life convict, who had jumped parole, among two held

NEW DELHI: A life convict, who had jumped parole, has been arrested along with another person by the West Delhi police for allegedly being involved in the bank robbery reported from Paschim Vihar on April 21. The police have recovered Rs. 4.75 lakhs in cash and an Italian pistol from the accused.

The police said Chand Kumar Dham, supervisor with R.N. Motors, at Bhairon Enclave in Paschim Vihar, was robbed of Rs. 7.1 lakhs while he was awaiting his turn to deposit the amount in the Bhairon Enclave branch of Allahabad Bank around 10 a.m. A smartly dressed young man walked up to him and forced him to part with his briefcase at gunpoint. Eyewitnesses had later told the police that the robber had escaped in a Maruti car along with another person.

Apart from questioning several people in this connection, the police also prepared an identikit of the suspect on the basis of description provided by some eyewitness. The next day, the police received a tip-off that a man convicted of life imprisonment, identified as Rajesh, was seen moving around in the Peeragarhi Market in the past couple of days.

Following further investigations, the police laid a trap at Peeragarhi on Sunday and arrested Rajesh and one of his associates, Raj Kumar, around 11-15 a.m. The police recovered the robbed briefcase from the accused in which Rs. 4.26 lakhs in cash and a deposit receipt for Rs. 49,000 was kept. The police said Rajesh had deposited the amount in his account in the Bank of Punjab (Punjabi Bagh) on Saturday. An Italian pistol and a country-made revolver were also recovered. The car in which the accused had come to Peeragarhi had been stolen from Sunder Apartments in Paschim Vihar and the registration number plates had been changed.

The police said a third person, identified as Ram Kishore, was also involved in the robbery. Rajesh is a commerce graduate who had been sentenced to life imprisonment for kidnapping his brother-in-law and demanding ransom in 1999. Raj Kumar, a kidnapping case accused, and Ram Kishore, accused in a rape case, and Rajesh had met in jail. On February 17, Rajesh was released on parole for two months, while his associates had earlier got bail.

It was during this period that they decided to form a gang and rob people moving with huge amounts of cash. They managed to procure weapons with the help of contacts they had developed in jail.

Their first target was R.N. Motors. They had recced the movement of the petrol pump staff and knew that huge cash was deposited in the nearby bank every morning. In order to execute the plan, they stole the car a couple of days ago.

On the day of the incident, the trio reached Allahabad Bank and parked the car a few metres away. Rajesh then went inside while Ram Kishore kept a vigil on the entrance. Raj Kumar was keeping an eye on the service road.

After committing the robbery, Rajesh and Ram Kishore escaped in the Maruti car. Raj Kumar was given Rs. 50,000 from the booty and the rest was left with Rajesh for safe-keep and subsequent distribution. Efforts are now on to trace the third accused and recover the remaining amount.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

New Delhi