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Multi-crore heist: Haryana STF arrests gangster Lagarpuria
STF officials said the theft came to the fore on August 20 when an employee of the developer visited the maintenance office to collect cash to deposit it in the bank. After scanning footage from CCTV cameras, the realtor discovered that the money was stolen, they said
The Special Task Force (STF) of Haryana Police said it arrested notorious gangster Vikas Gulia (32) alias Vikas Lagarpuria from a toll plaza on the Gurugram-Delhi border on Thursday morning for his alleged involvement in a multi-crore heist case which took place in a Sector 84 condominium in August last year.
According to STF officials, he was travelling incognito in a cab to his village Lagarpur in Jhajjhar to meet his ailing parents.
However, B Satheesh Balan, inspector general of police of STF, declined to comment on where Lagarpuria was travelling from. He also declined to comment on reports that said Interpol had apprehended Lagarpuria in Dubai in May, and the STF worked to deport him, and then arrested him from Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi.
Balan, instead, said they had received a tip-off on Lagarpuria’s movement after which a team started checking vehicles at the toll plaza on the Gurugram-Delhi border.
“We had photographs of Lagarpuria, on the basis of which a few suspects with a similar appearance were detained at about 7.30am. Among them, one man acted suspiciously. He had initially identified himself as Deepak of Hisar but later said his house was in Panipat. His appearance was very different from the photographs we had,” Balan said.
Balan said that the STF team led by inspectors Anil Kumar and Narender Phogat were sure that “Deepak” was actually Lagarpuria and interrogated him for almost two hours after which he finally disclosed his real identity.
Balan said that Lagarpuria confessed to receiving more than ₹20.5 crore--the major share of the stolen cash from the heist.
“We have got him on a 10-day police remand for detailed interrogation. We will quiz him to know where the money was invested. He confessed his involvement in the heist. We had been searching him from November 2021 when the case was handed over to STF,” he said.
Balan said that this is the 20th arrest in the case and probably the last one.
“If Lagarpuria discloses some more names of people who might have helped in investing the money, then a few more arrests might take place,” he said.
He said that suspended IPS officer Dheeraj Sethia, who is also one of the suspects in the case, had undergone a lie-detector test at a forensic laboratory in Delhi five days ago. “Its report is yet to arrive,” he added.
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 the theft came to the fore on August 20 when an employee of the developer visited the maintenance office to collect cash to deposit it in the bank. 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. On November 10, the STF arrested two doctors -- Dr Sachinder Jain Nawal, a paediatrician who owns two hospitals in Gurugram, and Dr Gurpartap Singh.
In February this year, a high court granted interim bail to 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 Dr Nawal in July, and passed on to Lagarpuria, officials said.
“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 case and are also independently investigating the source of the cash kept at the developer’s office.
According to STF officials, Lagarpuria is convicted in a murder case and served three out of seven years’ imprisonment before being released on parole from Bhondsi district jail in December 2018. He soon went on the run. There are 24 cases, including the heist, registered against Lagarpuria in Haryana and Delhi, of which three are murder cases.
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