The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Police still clueless about bank heist

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jul 12, 2005

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Police still clueless about bank heist

Marri Ramu

Seventy suspects interrogated

HYDERABAD: What was considered as an open and shut case, is turning out to be a tough nut to crack.

Twenty days after the Mysore bank heist, police are still clueless about the suspects despite several leads, leave alone cracking the mystery.

With the circumstantial evidence suggesting an insider's job, police interrogated more than 70 persons only to reach a dead end. "Too many security lapses on the part of bank management are hampering our efforts to zero in on suspects," says the Additional Commissioner of Police, Tejdeep Kaur Menon.

Startling facts

Unlike other banks, sleuths were startled to learn that too many people had access to the strong room premises. So disorganised the entire system was that one of the bank attenders, Taher was living in the basement right where the strong room was located. Hailing from Cuddapah district, he was living alone in the city and chose the bank building for his home, police learnt.

Even more startling was the fact that customers coming into the basement to check their lockers were using the toilet adjacent to the strong room. With the renovation work on, plumbers, electricians and technicians connected with false ceiling work were allowed to move around freely in the bank building.

Detectives thought they had stumbled upon a clue when they found the security alarm system switched off.

But, the lead left them even more confused when they realised that the bank staff had forgotten to remove the key from the alarm keyhole. "When we tried to find out who left the alarm key there, the bank employees could not properly explain," an officer

associated with the investigation said.

Carefully manoeuvred

What baffled the cops was the manner in which intruders managed to locate the exact location of the alarm beneath the roof despite the presence of a false ceiling.

The culprits removed the block right beneath the alarm and switched it off. Police tried to zero in on persons connected with the false ceiling work only to understand it was arranged a month after the alarm was installed.

"This means many people - bank employees, customers and false ceiling technicians - had been watching the location of the alarm for a month and thus our efforts to shortlist suspects failed again," police say.

With all hopes gradually vanishing, police are now hinging on the fingerprints collected from the scene.

"The case will be solved if these fingerprints match with any of the known offenders. Otherwise, we have to re-examine the suspects all over again for a breakthrough," the police said.

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