ATM van robbery: Cops crack Def Col heist; 3 held
Two days after the audacious Rs 5.25 crore heist in south Delhi, police today claimed to have cracked the case with the arrest of three persons including a robber and recovered Rs 2.36 crore.
The Delhi Police on Sunday arrested three suspects for Friday’s Rs 5.25-crore daylight heist in Defence Colony and recovered around Rs 2.37 crore.
Deepak Sharma — detained on Saturday — was formally arrested Sunday morning. Sources said Krishan Valmiki and Tekram, who helped hide a part of the loot, were also arrested. A sum of Rs 1.51 crore was seized from Sharma and nearly Rs 86 lakh from the other two.
Sharma is the brother of mastermind Hari Kishan, who is absconding with three other suspects Ranjeet Rumal, Vijay Nahar and Yogesh Kumar. Nahar is a police informer and Valmiki and Tekram’s relative.
The suspects planned the robbery in May and studied their target over the next few months. The police are yet to give a clean chit to employees of the cash replenishment company whose van was robbed.
The gang had on Friday afternoon waylaid the van and hijacked it after shooting its security guard.
Vivek Gogia, joint CP (southwest), said Sharma was arrested after raids in south Delhi’s Khirki Extension and Hauz Rani, where the van and the money chests were found abandoned.
“We matched the witnesses’ description of the robbers with our records and prepared portraits. We showed these to residents of Khirki Extension and Hauz Rani and tracked mastermind Kishan’s house,” said Gogia.
Police found the van’s key at Kishan’s house. “Sharma was caught while driving an SUV near Malviya Nagar. The 9-mm pistol used by Kishan to fire at the guard and nine live cartridges were found on him,” said an officer.
Sources said Valmiki and Tekram were arrested from their homes in Gurgaon.