Mason took 5 hours to steal ₹55 lakh from East Delhi bank; arrested

About ₹49,000 was recovered from the mason’s 39-year-old friend, who has also been arrested on the alleged charges of receiving stolen money, while they together spent ₹5,400 on gambling, the police said.

A 34-year-old mason single-handedly cut through a wall and floor of the Union Bank of India’s branch, broke open the iron vault and stole a little over ₹55 lakh cash – all in five hours – on Sunday, the police said on Tuesday, after arresting the prime suspect and recovering ₹54.48 lakh from him.

Police personnel arrest 2 accused and seized burglary items in the Union Bank of India, in New Delhi. (ANI)

About ₹49,000 was recovered from the mason’s 39-year-old friend, who has also been arrested on the alleged charges of receiving stolen money, while they together spent ₹5,400 on gambling, the police said.

Ironically, before his arrest, the mason, Hari Ram, who lives in a lane close to the bank, was called in by the bank officials on Monday afternoon to patch up the holes that he had drilled the previous day for executing the heist. The bank officials entrusted Ram for fixing the drilled holes because they knew him and had hired him in the past for some repair work. Ram patched up the holes after the forensic teams lifted evidence from the crime scene, said deputy commissioner of police (Shahdara) R Satiyasundaram.

Six months ago, Ram carried out repairs for fixing seepage in the strong room in the basement, where the bank’s lockers and vault are located, police said. As Ram was familiar with the layout and design of the bank’s building, he planned the heist three months ago. He needed money to pay off ₹10 lakh that he borrowed from various people and lost them in gambling, police said.

Investigators said Ram chose an under-construction building adjacent to the bank to enter the premises because he knew it has been abandoned. Also, three months ago, he had replaced the lock on the building so that he could enter without any signs of break-in. Police said the building was locked for the past two years because of some dispute over the property. Ram had first worked there as a mason, and then caretaker till the owner sold it to someone two years ago.

Ram wanted to execute the plan sometime around April but had to drop it because he couldn’t buy tools to cut through a wall and the vault as all shops were closed due to the lockdown, said the DCP.

Last week, the DCP said, Ram purchased a grinding machine, its blades, a hammer and a chisel from a shop in Shahdara. Ram decided to execute the plan on Sunday because he knew that the cash transactions of Friday and Saturday were kept in the bank’s safe and that the bank is closed for weekend.

“He carried out a detailed reconnaissance of the areas around the bank to check the position of CCTVs around the bank building,” said an investigator, who asked not to be named.

On Sunday around 2pm, Ram went to the first floor of another building and changed the focus of a CCTV camera that could have captured his entry to the under construction building. Then, he opened the lock of the vacant building, went inside, drilled a hole and entered the bank’s ground floor. He disabled the CCTV cameras and then drilled his way into the basement through the floor, said DCP Sathiyasundaram.

“Once inside the basement, Ram cut open the vault, took out the cash and fled. He put the cash in a plastic sack, went to the roof of a building near his house where he worked as a guard and cleaner, and hid it in a blue drum. He took out around ₹55,000, and gave ₹50,000 to his friend Kali Charan (now arrested) and spent the remaining ₹5,000 in gambling,” added the DCP.

The DCP said investigators scanned nearly 50 CCTV cameras, including the one that Ram tampered with. That camera had captured Ram entering the building before it went out of focus.

“We showed the footage to some people working in that building. Two of them identified him as Hari Ram and told us that he had worked in the under construction building two years ago. We checked the other CCTVs and found Ram carrying a bag in the adjacent lane around 7 pm on Sunday. Ram was interrogated and confronted with the video footage. He broke down and confessed to the crime. He took us to his employer’s building from where the stolen cash was recovered,” added the DCP.

Originally from Madhya Pradesh, Ram came to Delhi for livelihood seven years ago. His wife and two children live with him in Delhi but they were unaware of his crime. His friend, Kali Charan, runs a small business, the police said.