In what is said to be the biggest-ever broad daylight robbery in the Capital, half-a-dozen armed men waylaid the occupants of a car and drove away with the vehicle carrying Rs.7.69 crore in cash near the busy Moolchand flyover in South-East Delhi on Tuesday.
While the vehicles used by the perpetrators have been recovered from different places, they are yet to be identified. The police are also reportedly probing a suspected hawala angle in the case.
It all happened around 9-20 a.m. when Rakesh Kumar, manager of a Gurgaon-based businessman-cum-financer Rahul Ahuja, was going to Karol Bagh in a Honda City car along with his two co-workers, Rajesh and Baijnath. The vehicle was driven by one Subodh.
Mr. Kumar told the police that cash amounting to Rs. 7.69 crore stuffed in duffle bags was kept in the car. The money had been collected from two people in Kalkaji and Greater Kailash and had to be deposited in separate banks of Karol Bagh branches. The portion of cash collected in Kalkaji belonged to a property dealer named Rakesh Kalra, police sources said.
As an added security measure, they had two more employees and a gunman trailing them in a separate car. However, that vehicle was left behind as it got stuck in traffic and consequently failed to provide cover at the time the robbers struck.
As the car crossed Moolchand flyover and was approaching the Lajpat Nagar metro station, a silver colour WagonR car with an Uttar Pradesh registration number, intercepted the vehicle. The driver of Mr Kumar’s car lost control and it rammed the WagonR.
The WagonR driver immediately came out as did the occupants of the Honda City and an argument ensued.
Even as they engaged in a heated exchange, a white colour Hyundai Verna car bearing a Haryana registration number appeared on the scene and another three to four men carrying firearms alighted from it, training the gun at the victims.
“At gunpoint they forced their way into the Honda City and drove off taking the cash along, leaving behind the Wagon R at the scene of crime,” said a police officer at the spot. The robbers sped away in the Honda City and the Verna.
