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Gurugram court allows STF to take voice sample of gangster Lagarpuria
Gurugram: A city court on Monday allowed the Haryana Special Task Force (STF) to take the voice sample of gangster Vikas Gulia (32), alias Vikas Lagarpuria, who was the mastermind of a multi-crore heist
Gurugram: A city court on Monday allowed the Haryana Special Task Force (STF) to take the voice sample of gangster Vikas Gulia (32), alias Vikas Lagarpuria, who was the mastermind of a multi-crore heist.
After a 10-day remand, Lagarpuria was produced in a city court and sent to judicial custody. Meanwhile, the STF recovered ₹4.12 crore cash from an area in Jhajjar.
B Satheesh Balan, inspector general of police, STF, said that Lagarpuria confessed to have received more than ₹20.5 crore — the major share of the stolen cash from the heist.
The STF filed an application in the court to take the voice sample of Lagarpuria.
During his interrogation, Lagarpuria revealed that he had hidden over ₹4.12 crore in a private property near his village in Jhajjar. Based on the input, teams raided the place and recovered the cash.
A total of 19 suspects have been arrested in relation to the heist case so far.
Lagarpuria was detained from the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport by central intelligence agencies on December 14, after he arrived from Dubai, following which a team of Haryana Police STF got his custody after coordinating with agencies.
More than 24 cases of murder, robbery and extortion have been registered against the gangster in Delhi and Haryana.
“Till now, 19 suspects, including Lagarpuria have been arrested. Till now, about ₹10 crore cash has been recovered”, an officer of the STF said.
Days before the multi-crore heist took place in a residential society in Sector 84 on August 4, 2021, Lagarpuria allegedly asked his henchmen to rent a flat in the same society to keep a watch on two apartments — one on the fourth floor and the other on 11th floor —that were being used as maintenance offices by the developer of the residential society, said senior officials of the Haryana STF.
It took the gangster and his men 10 days to execute the plan, which involved 20 people, including policemen, doctors and financers, said officials.
STF officials said that the theft was revealed on August 20, 2021, when an employee of the developer visited the maintenance office to collect cash. After scanning footage from CCTV cameras, the realtor discovered that the money was stolen, they said.
On August 21, a case of theft was registered at Kherki Daula police station. The case was transferred to the STF on October 30, after allegations of unaccounted money and the involvement of Haryana IPS officer Dheeraj Setia came to the fore. The STF revealed that gold and cash, including US dollars, worth at least ₹40 crore were stolen.
So far, 20 people, including Lagarpuria, six of his henchmen, three doctors, two employees of the developer, two financers and an assistant sub-inspector (ASI) of the Delhi Police are suspects in the case.
In February this year, a high court granted interim bail to DCP Setia, said police, who was suspended by the Haryana government on November 11, 2021, after being asked to join the investigation on the basis of a confessional statement made by one of the suspects.
The information regarding the money in the maintenance offices was allegedly leaked to one of the doctors in July 2021, and passed on to Lagarpuria, officials added.
“The apartments were unattended at night and there were no lockers. The bags containing money were kept in the almirahs,” officials said.
The STF had issued a lookout notice against Lagarpuria early this year, said police.
STF officials said they had communicated to the Enforcement Directorate and Income Tax department about the developments in the case and are also independently investigating the source of the cash kept at the developer’s office.
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