A police constable and a former CMS employee have been detained in the Rs 7.11 crore Bengaluru cash-van robbery, a daylight heist that investigators say is among the city’s biggest in recent years.
CCTV grab of the vehicle used by the Bengaluru heist gang, carrying a ‘GOVT OF INDIA’ sticker to impersonate officials during the ₹7.11 crore cash-van robbery. (Photo: IANS)
The probe into Bengaluru’s Rs 7.11 crore cash-van robbery has taken a sharp turn with investigators detaining a city police constable and a former CMS Info System Limited employee. Officials confirmed on Friday that both were picked up after special teams traced their possible involvement in the case.
The robbery, executed by a six-member gang that stopped an ATM cash van in southern Bengaluru on a busy Wednesday afternoon, is being described as one of the biggest heists the city has witnessed in recent years.
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Its scale, timing and the emerging insider angle have raised concerns about operational lapses and the vulnerability of high-value cash movement.
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According to initial reports, the gang used the guise of government authority to carry out the robbery. Officers reported that a group of unidentified men arrived in a car with a Government of India sticker and intercepted the cash van near Ashoka Pillar, while it was transporting money from a JP Nagar bank branch.
Police had first believed the men were posing as Income Tax officials, but later reports suggested they claimed to be from the RBI. The group told the staff they needed to “verify documents” before allegedly forcing them into their vehicle and driving away with the cash.
The staff were dropped near Dairy Circle, while the robbers made off with an estimated Rs 7 crore. “Probably such an incident had never happened in Bengaluru,” Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara had said at the time.
Despite roadblocks and border checks being set up soon after, the gang managed to escape. A vehicle suspected to have been used in the getaway was later found near Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh’s Chittoor district.
Among those detained on Friday is a constable from the Govindarajanagar police station. He was picked up early morning while returning home after night duty.
Also detained is a Kerala native who had recently resigned from CMS Info System Limited, the firm that operated the targeted cash van.
Police sources say the two men had been in touch for nearly six months. Their phone records, checked through CDR verification, showed frequent calls in recent days and conversations around the time of the heist.
A telling detail that strengthened suspicion: the alert to the police control room was made around 45 minutes after the robbery, unusually delayed for a high-value incident.
More than 200 officers and eight special teams are working on the case. Investigators believe the gang may be hiding in Tamil Nadu or Andhra Pradesh.
Inputs gathered so far also indicate that some members of the group may be from Bengaluru’s Kalyan Nagar locality.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said the police have gathered leads in the case and are confident of tracking down the robbers soon.
Home Minister G Parameshwara expressed similar confidence.
The BJP criticised the government over the daring daytime crime. Leader of the Opposition R Ashoka said on Wednesday: “Bank robbery earlier, now cash meant for ATMs looted — a daring daylight heist on a busy road. The broad-daylight robbery of an ATM cash vehicle in Bengaluru this afternoon, in which money being transported to ATMs was looted, is clear proof that law and order in the state has completely collapsed.”
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