Hole in the wall: Man steals over ₹55 lakh from Delhi bank

Hariram was earlier entrusted with the task of fixing a hole in the wall inside their premises by bank authorities

A man was arrested on Tuesday for allegedly burgling over ₹55 lakh in East Delhi’s Farsh Bazar area. Hariram, a 34-year-old resident of Vishwas Nagar, broke into a bank from an adjoining under-construction building. Hariram was earlier entrusted with the task of fixing a hole in the wall inside their premises by bank authorities, police officials told news agency PTI. The hole in the wall was also dug by Hariram to commit the burglary.

The police recovered ₹5,448,730 from a house in the same area where Hariram was working as a guard and ₹49,200 was recovered from Kalicharan. (HT Archive/iStock)

Police officials also arrested another person Kalicharan (39) who received some amount of the stolen money. The police recovered ₹5,448,730 from a house in the same area where Hariram was working as a guard and ₹49,200 was recovered from Kalicharan. Hariram owed Kalicharan ₹49,200 in gambling debts.

Police received the information regarding a burglary in a bank in Vishwas Nagar on Monday following which they reached the premises to inspect the area. They inspected the spot and found two holes - the wall of the server room of the bank from the adjacent under-construction building and the other in the wall of a strong room in the basement. At least ₹5,503,330 was stolen from the vault, police said.

The police also formed various teams for collecting information from frequent visitors, guards, contractual staff and any other person who might have entered the locker room over the last six months. The cops checked 50 CCTV cameras and found one camera which was installed near an ATM next to another under-construction building was facing upward. Upon closer inspection it was found that the ATM was tampered with but the CCTV camera captured the man’s palm and some portions of his face for a few microseconds. The police said that the camera was tampered with from the first floor of the building.

They rounded up three prime suspects who were present in the building when the direction of the CCTV was already pointed towards the entry point in the under-construction building. The detailed analysis later revealed that the person was Hariram. Hariram lived nearby and was known by the building’s caretakers who had the CCTV footage.

“Hariram was apprehended. During interrogation, he tried to mislead police by saying that a person gave him ₹1,000 to divert the direction of the camera, but later confessed to his crime,” R Sathiyasundaram, the deputy commissioner of police of Shahdara said.

Hariram was called for some renovation work at the strong room six months earlier. Following the renovation, Hariram conducted a detailed recce of the place and gathered all information about cash and possible entry and exit routes, the DCP said.

“Hariram planned for the money heist for the last three months, but could not take it up due to the lockdown. Hariram got access to the under-construction building by removing the previous lock and replaced it with another similar one,” Sathiyasundaram further explained. Hariram entered the under-construction building and dug small holes there and also in the strong room. He also told the police that he wanted to use the stolen money for gambling.

Police found a grinder, broken grinder plate, hammer, chisel and helmet from Hariram’s possession. Hariram who is a trained construction worker has worked in several construction sites over the past few years. He was living with his wife and two children in the Capital. Kalicharan owns a small business but was involved in illegal gambling activities, police said.

(with inputs from PTI)