A tap on the shoulder, and elderly man loses Rs 5L

An elderly man lost Rs 5 lakh to tricksters who diverted his attention outside the SBI’s Mahadevapura branch in eastern Bengaluru last week, police said.

Sanjeev Reddy, 65, had been saving up for the past three years for his niece’s wedding. On the morning of August 23, shortly after he withdrew the money for the wedding preparations, a few men distracted him by tapping him on the shoulder and stole the money in a quick sleight of hand when he was not looking, the police said.

A preliminary investigation has revealed that one of the conmen followed Reddy’s movements inside the bank and informed his accomplice who was outside the bank about the withdrawal of a large sum of money.

When Reddy exited the bank at 11.30 am and kept the plastic bag of money on his two-wheeler to wear the helmet and put on the jacket, a man tapped him on the shoulder, police said.

A quick job

Before Reddy could realise what was happening, the man quickly took the bag of money and rode away on a Hero Splendor, the police said. In addition to the cash, Reddy’s SBI passbook, a Punjab National Bank passbook, a ration card, a health card, three voter IDs, a PAN card, and an Aadhaar card that were in the same bag were also stolen, police said.

The police are examining the CCTV footage of the bank and the surrounding areas to identify and track down the suspects.

They are operating under the assumption that more than one person was involved in the crime. A case of theft and cheating has been registered under the relevant sections of the IPC.