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Guard held with ₹4.03 crore he stole from Axis Bank in Chandigarh
Had hidden a bag containing ₹4 crore of the stolen amount in jungle area; spent ₹86,000 of the remaining ₹4 lakh on a new phone, clothes and paying for hotel bills in Panchkula’s Raipur Rani
The crime branch of Chandigarh Police on Wednesday arrested Axis Bank security guard Sunil Kumar and recovered most of the ₹4.04 crore that he stole from the bank’s currency chest in Sector 34 on Sunday.
Police said his past activity on social media and his frequent visits to Raipur Rani in Panchkula helped them trace him.
The accused had managed to spend ₹86,000 of the stolen amount on buying a mobile phone and clothes and paying for his stay at a hotel in Raipur Rani. While ₹3.14 lakh were found in Sunil’s backpack when he was arrested from Shastri Nagar in Manimajra, after being followed from Raipur Rani, ₹4 crore were recovered from a bag hidden in the jungle area near Hallomajra, upon his interrogation.
The accused will be produced in court on Thursday. Police are also looking into the role of any other person in the theft.
Social media history helped trace him
Sunil had left the bank on his motorcycle with two bags containing the cash. He had thrown his mobile phone to cover his tracks. Though he was usually active on social media, he had not logged into any of his accounts after the theft.
However, his past social media history gave vital clues, said Manoj Kumar Meena, superintendent of police (crime). “Sunil was very active on social media, especially on one matrimonial website. Tracking his social media history, we found about his vehicle, lifestyle in general and also that he was a frequent visitor to Raipur Rani,” he said.
Police said Sunil is fond of a lavish lifestyle and is a “big show-off”. He was not only in touch with a large number of women on social media, but had even promised to gift them money, said police.
Sunil had divorced his wife, and their daughter is staying with her. He had last visited his parents in Panchkula’s Morni about six months back. They, in fact, had disowned him.
Police said Sunil was staying in a paying guest accommodation in Mohali’s Kumbra village, and a day prior to the theft, he had even thrown a party. He also has to repay a loan of ₹70,000.
After the theft, Sunil had gone to the hotel in Raipur Rani after hiding one bag in the jungle area. Later, he had even returned to Chandigarh to check if the money was safe, said police.
What had happened on Sunday
Sunil was working as an unarmed guard with the currency chest for the past four years. It is the hub that supplies cash to all ATMs of the bank in the city.
While the India Reserve Battalion (IRB) personnel were deputed on the outer security circle of the office, Sunil had free access to the chest. IRB personnel had alerted the officials after Sunil, who was on night duty, went missing and the door of the currency chest was found open around 3am on Sunday.
The bank’s chest staff reached the spot and started checking CCTV footage that showed Sunil taking out something wrapped from the premises. On checking, one of the boxes was found damaged and opened. A sum of ₹4.04 crore — in two packets of 20 bundles each of currency notes in the denomination of ₹2,000 — were missing.
Checking the CCTV footage further, the staff found that Sunil moved out of the office with two bags. He fled on his motorcycle on which he used to come to work daily.
A case was registered under Sections 457 (lurking house-trespass or housebreaking by night to commit offence punishable with imprisonment) and 381 (theft by clerk or servant of property in possession of master) of the Indian Penal Code. Police had even issued a lookout notice for him on Tuesday.
