Ludhiana’s biggest heist cracked in 60 hours: ATM cash firm staffer among 6 held; Rs 5 crore recovered

Police commissioner Mandeep Singh Sidhu said Wednesday that the heist was planned by the company’s employee Manjinder Singh alias Mani, 27, and his friend Mandeep Kaur, who is yet to be arrested.

Ludhiana’s biggest heist of Rs 8.49 crore solved: Police said one of the accused, 18 yr old Harpreet Singh uploaded this reel on Instagram after the loot to flaunt robbed cash. His elder sister Mandeep Kaur and her husband Jaswinder from Barnala still at large @IndianExpress pic.twitter.com/mHpPsbnut5

— Divya Goyal (@divya5521) June 14, 2023

Manjinder, of Abuwal village, used to transport and load huge amounts of cash daily in ATMs and was well aware of the company’s poor security arrangements.

Sidhu said that 10 police teams in coordination with the counter-intelligence wing of Punjab Police worked on the case and solved it within 60 hours by tracking vehicles with the GPS system and checking CCTV cameras and mobile phone dumps all along the route followed by the accused.

The other arrested accused are Mandeep Singh alias Vicky, 33, of Kothe Hari Singh village in Jagraon, who works as a painter; Harvinder Singh alias Lambu, 30, also from Kothe Hari Singh village, who works as carpenter; Paramjit Singh alias Pamma, 38, of Kaunke Kalan village in Jagraon, who is a labourer; Harpreet Singh, 18, of Sanghera Road in Barnala, who works at an AC repair shop; and Narinder Singh alias Happy, 29, of Kothe Hari Singh village.

Police are yet to arrest Mandeep Kaur of Dehlon; her husband Jaswinder Singh, of Ramgharia Road in Barnala; Arun Kumar, of Bhai Ghanaiya Colony in Barnala; Nanni; and Gulshan. One of the arrested accused, Harpreet, is Kaur’s brother.

Mandeep Kaur, who is the mastermind of the robbery, is absconding. (Express Photo)

Sidhu said that on Tuesday, police got their first success with the arrests of Mandeep and Harvinder from Dhatt village.

They revealed that the mastermind of the conspiracy was Manjinder and also identified the other accused. Police recovered Rs 50 lakh from Mandeep’s house and Rs 75 lakh from Harvinder’s house.

Police then arrested Manjinder from Abbuwal and recovered Rs 1 crore. Another police team arrested Paramjit Singh alias Pamma from Kaunke village of Jagraon and recovered Rs 25 lakh.

Yet another police team arrested Harpreet and recovered Rs 25 lakh from him.

During his interrogation, it was revealed that the Chevrolet Cruz used by the gang to reach the CMS office belonged to his sister Kaur and her husband. Police said the car was recovered from the house of another suspect, Arun Kumar, and Rs 2.25 crore was recovered from the vehicle.

Sidhu said that Manjinder planned the crime after getting in touch with his friend Kaur, who involved her husband, brother and other accomplices in the plan.

“We are expecting more recovery from Mandeep Kaur and her husband, who are currently absconding,” he said. “Of the eleven accused, six have been arrested. The motive was easy money and a wish to get rich overnight.”

Police said the accused had divided themselves into two groups. The first group—Mandeep Kaur, Jaswinder, Harpreet, Arun, Nanni and Gulshan—arrived at the spot in the Cruz car while the rest reached there on two bikes.

“They first entered the office using a portable ladder and held three security guards hostage. They snatched weapons from the guards, disconnected DVRs of CCTV cameras, uprooted magnetic lockers and also disconnected hooters and sirens as Manjinder was well aware of the company’s internal security system, which was in tatters. After entering the cash room and overpowering other employees, they looted cash, which was lying in the open on the table, loaded it in a cash van and fled. They also disconnected CCTVs inside the van. While three of them fled on two bikes, the rest sat in the cash van,” said Sidhu. “In Mandiani village, they abandoned the cash van after taking out the cash kept in three bags.”

Interestingly, a scan of social media accounts of the accused revealed that Harpreet had uploaded a reel on his Instagram account while flaunting bundles of currency notes after the loot.

Sidhu said that police would write to the government to cancel the company’s licence as glaring lapses were found in its security arrangements, stating that it had put people’s money at stake with their “jugaad” security.

Cash figure mismatch

While police have recovered Rs 5 crore of the looted amount, there is still no clarity on the exact amount taken away by the robbers owing to a mismatch in company’s statements, said Sidhu.

“While initially they were claiming a robbery of Rs 6 crore, later they changed it to Rs 7 crore and then more than Rs 8 crore. An internal case of embezzlement cannot be ruled out. A special investigation team under JCP Saumya Mishra has been constituted to probe this angle from banks and other stakeholders,” said Sidhu. “The SIT would also be probing the main accused Manjinder’s statement that the company was already having a dispute with a bank for Rs 51 lakh and another tranche of damaged currency notes of Rs 2,000 worth Rs 50 lakh were adding to the loss. So they might have inflated the loot amount by Rs 1 crore to compensate for the loss.”

The FIR registered at the Sarabha Nagar police station pegged the loot at Rs 8.49 crore.

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While lauding the team of officers including JCP Saumya Mishra, DCP (investigation) Harmeet Singh Hundal, AIG counter intelligence Simratpal Singh Dhindsa, ADCP-3 Shubham Aggarwal, ACP west Mandeep Singh and inspector Beant Juneja, among others, Sidhu said that a cash reward of Rs 10 lakh had been announced for the Ludhiana police by DGP Gaurav Yadav for solving the biggest heist within 60 hours and recovering Rs 5 crore.