Police crack heist case, six detained

Cops suspect robbery was stage managed

 Delhi Police have detained at least six persons, including relatives of businessman Rajesh Kalra and his business partner’s manager Rakesh Kumar Sharma, for suspected involvement in Tuesday’s Rs 7.69 crore heist in south east Delhi’s Lajpat Nagar. 

Sources said the case has been cracked, but police are waiting to recover the robbed cash and vehicles used in the crime. After identifying the insiders, police are now believed to be conducting raids to nab the henchmen. 

“Raids are being conducted at possible hideouts of the accused who could have executed the meticulously planned robbery. Several Delhi Police teams are in Haryana and Uttar Pradesh,” sources added. 

With the emergence of the hawala angle, Kalra was always under police scanner and investigators also had reasons to believe that the ‘former bookie’ may have staged the heist along with his employees. His call records were scanned during the course of investigation. Kalra and Sharma have not been cooperating in establishing the source of the money.  

Notorious criminal Ashok alias Doga, at present lodged in Rohtak jail, is also a strong suspect in the case. 

Police have found links between him and one of Kalra’s employees, Sandeep, who was in another car behind the Honda City. Doga was questioned by investigators on Wednesday.

Sandeep and his relative Ravinder, who was also in the second car, are Ashok’s maternal cousins and work as gunners for Kalra. They were escorting the Honda City in a Hyundai i20 car, but had claimed to have got stuck in traffic when the Honda City was attacked near Lajpat Nagar Metro Station. 

Police probe has further revealed that the cash was collected by Kalra and his business partner Rahul Ahuja’s employees from some Chandni Chowk-based businessmen on the instructions of an alleged hawala operator based in Mumbai.The investigation is being conducted by three different wings of the Delhi police. 

While the Special Cell has been asked to probe the alleged hawala link involving betting syndicates operating during cricket matches and Kalra’s Dubai connection, the crime branch team is looking for different gangs of robbers operating in Delhi, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. 

“Our teams are working on the case and we hope to crack it soon,” Delhi Police Commissioner Bhim Sain Bassi had said on Thursday.