New Delhi, Oct 1 (IANS) Two more people, including an ex-employee of a security company, were arrested for the Rs.5.25 crore bank van robbery here that left a guard dead last week, police said Monday. Three other accused are already in custody.
Umesh, 40, an ex-employee of company Vault Managing, and Krishan Kumar, 39, were arrested Sunday night from their houses in Taimoor Nagar in south Delhi, police said.
Their arrest led to the recovery of Rs.2.39 crore, police said.
Main accused Deepak Sharma, 34, Mukesh Saini, 31, alias Jaikishan and Tek Chand, 50, were arrested Sunday and Rs.2.36 crore recovered.
During the probe police came to know that Umesh was seen outside a bank in Hauz Khas in south Delhi from where the van was taking cash to Lajpat Nagar. The vehicle was robbed at Defence Colony before it reached its destination.
Umesh told police that he was persuaded by Mukesh, his neighbour, to provide information regarding the cash transfer from the Hauz Khas bank.
"As Umesh had worked with Vault Managing company and was employed at cash counting machine, he knew how the counted bundles of cash are stashed in chests and then transferred to the van for delivery at various ATMs and other branches," said Joint Commissioner of Police Vivek Gogia.
"Both Umesh and Mukesh gathered information on van, its preferred route and timing on Friday, the day of the robbery. They also zeroed in on the van carrying the maximum amount," said Gogia.
Whenever local guards questioned them about their presence near the Vault Managing office, Umesh would flash his expired I-card.
On the day of crime, they were present near the security company's office on a mobike, owned by Mukesh, and passed information about the movement of the van to their associates, police said.
Mukesh told police that he had been in jail for more than two years in a cheating incident in east Delhi's Kalyanpuri area and came in contact with one of the main accused in jail.
"One and half year ago he was released from jail and maintained links with the co-accused. The main accused, who is still absconding, persuaded Mukesh regularly to give some relevant tip off so that a big heist could be effected," said the officer.
Mukesh, who was in dire need of money to meet his daily expenses, later met Umesh and planned the heist.
After the incident Friday, Anil Kumar, 27, the driver of the ICICI Bank cash van, a radio taxi (DL 1 RT 2088), revealed that some armed men in a white car blocked his vehicle's path near a petrol pump in Defence Colony around 1 p.m., police said.
"The assailants pulled out Anil, Ashok Kumar Singh, the cash custodian, and two guards. Guard Munne Singh, 40, was shot in the chest by the accused. The other guard was Ajab Singh. The accused fled with the van leaving their own car behind. The mobile phones and weapons were also taken away by the assailants," said a police officer.
Munne Singh was rushed to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences where he succumbed to his injuries.
The abandoned cash van was later found near Zakaria Park in south Delhi's Hauz Rani neighbourhood. "The two weapons of the guards were recovered from the van," the officer said.
Deepak, from whom a 9 mm pistol and two magazines were also seized, has been sent to judicial custody.
