: Special teams of the Railway Protection Force (RPF) have rushed to Asansol in West Bengal’s Bardhaman district and Mumbai tracking clues in the sensational train heist case in which Rs. 5.75 crore was looted from a cash-laden railway coach in Tamil Nadu last month.
The unprecedented train robbery came to light in Chennai on August 9 when Reserve Bank of India (RBI) officials found the cash stolen from a consignment of Rs. 342.75 crore of soiled but usable currency loaded in a parcel van attached to the Salem-Chennai Express. The suspects had drilled a hole through the roof of the steel van to commit the offence.
“We are in the process of comparing the bloodstains and fingerprints lifted from the scene of crime with those of criminals who were involved in similar crimes in the past. Based on a tipoff, special teams have been rushed to Asansol and Mumbai,” a senior security official told The Hindu on Sunday.
He said thousands of migrant workers belonging to Bardhaman and Malda in West Bengal were spread across the country. Quite a few were apprehended in the recent past on charges of smuggling counterfeit currency into India from Bangladesh and circulating them in Tamil Nadu.
“We are trying to locate some suspects who are used to the modus operandi of cutting open railway coaches to commit thefts. This is the first time that the roof of the coach has been drilled open to steal cash,” the officer added.
No record of cashThe official said neither the RBI nor the three nationalised banks that booked the cash consignment had any record of the serial numbers of the Rs. 1,000 and Rs. 500 denomination currency notes. “The soiled currency notes are usable in normal course. They are not mutilated...it is only that they can’t be loaded in ATMs,” the officer said.
Investigation so far has indicated it is unlikely that the heist happened in Chennai since the cash-laden van was escorted by armed police personnel till it was opened by the RBI officials. “It is a fact that the train arrived in Chennai at 3.55 a.m. on August 9 and stabled at the Gopalsamy Nagar yard for a few hours. The yard is a well illuminated area with parking and cleaning activities happening round-the-clock. The escort police were in the vicinity of the coach when it was stabled in the yard,” the officer said.
The escort police had kept a watch on the coach after the cash was loaded in Salem.
“We are looking at the possibility of the suspects operating on a moving train between Salem and Vriddhachalam, where there is no electrification of the railway line. Besides scheduled and unscheduled stops, the train was operated at slow speed at two to three places on this stretch due to technical reasons,” he said. The RPF had initially investigated the case. Since the scope of investigation went beyond railway premises, Tamil Nadu Director General of Police transferred the case to the Crime Branch CID.
