In an unusual case of bank robbery that happened in New Delhi, 3 burglars looted Rs 2.3 lakh - but only in coins. They broke into the Syndicate Bank branch in Mukherjee Nagar area of North Delhi in the early hours of Tuesday morning.
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The looted amount was in the denomination of Rs 5 and Rs 10 coins, which they had filled in 46 polythene bags.
But why coins?
The three friends who work as contract employees at a Delhi Transport Corporation bus depot in the same Mukherjee Nagar area were arrested on Tuesday evening.
They confessed to the police that they took only coins was because they thought the currency notes could be tracked down, reported Hindustan Times.
"They said stealing banknotes, especially the Rs 2,000 notes, was not their plan at all as they believed that notes could be tracked through chips or GPS after demonetisation. So, they decided to steal all the coins instead," a police official said. They felt shops and money exchangers would not raise suspicion when it comes to coins.
How the robbers got busted
The trio work as cleaners and storekeepers at the bus depot. They said that the robbery was inspired by crime thrillers and heist films.
They entered the bank from a window by breaking the grill using tools that were easily available at the depot. In the morning, a bank employee noticed the broken window and realised that a robbery was committed. The bank staff found all the Rs 5 and Rs 10 coins to be missing.
Preliminary investigation revealed that the robbery was carried out by electricians.
"While breaking into the bank, they had ended up breaking two blades of a hacksaw they used to cut the window grille. The two broken blades and a plier left behind at the spot made us suspect it could be the handiwork of electricians," said a senior police officer.
Further investigation made the police suspect that somebody from the bus depot might have been involved in the robbery.
On scanning the CCTV footage, they came across a significant clue— one of the robbers had the letter a 'R' tattooed on his left wrist. They questioned the workers at the depot and nailed a 21-year-old Rahul, who bore the same tattoo.
They also nabbed his two other friends, Rahul and Anuj. All of them are natives of Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh.
The accused had hidden some of the looted money on the roof of an abandoned building. "They were unable to carry all the packets containing the heavy coins. So, they hid most of the coins under an empty white sack and carried along only five packets which contained roughly Rs 10,000," the officer said. The culprits had spent Rs 10,000 to buy ganja and smack.
