Robbed cash van's key leads cops to accused

Assailants went to a village after Defence Colony heist

It took just 24 hours to identify the accused and crack one of Delhi’s biggest heist of Rs 5.25 crore, where the assailants fled with the cash van in broad daylight on Friday. The key of the cash van left at an abandoned house at Khirki village helped police identify all the accused and nab one of them.

During the heist, the assailants used a Hyundai Verna car, which they left after overpowering the cash van and killing a security guard at Defence Colony. Police first verified the car left by the assailants; they found that the vehicle was stolen from Faridabad a few days ago.

With this, police got the first clue that known people with criminal background were involved.

Police had also alerted all borders areas and police stations across the Capital. After 20 minutes of the crime, a police team found the stolen cash van abandoned at Hauz Rani near Zakaria Park, but the money chest was missing.

The area falls under Malviya Nagar police station. All the beat constables of the area were alerted and police started verifying people with criminal background in nearby areas.

Based on portraits made with inputs from witnesses, police went to the house of a known criminal named Hari Kishan in Khirki village. He had recently bought the house in his wife’s name and had shifted there.

The raid led to the recovery of key of the Maruti Echo money van, which indicated that after the robbery they had assembled there. Police then checked the records of Hari Kishan and put his phone on surveillance, following which they found four more persons involved with him.

The location of all the four other accused — Deepak Sharma, Ranjit Romali, Vijay Daggar and Yogesh — were confirmed. A police team, which went to conduct raid at one of the accused house, found that the accused had hidden the stolen money at two of his relatives houses in Gurgaon. Police conducted a raid there too and recovered Rs 85 lakh, and arrested two persons — Mukesh and Tekram.

There were produced before a city court on Sunday. Police refused to give more details of the arrested accused, saying it could harm investigation.

Police said the rest of the absconding accused have a criminal background and have served jail terms.