CISF man had almost nabbed the assailants in the Rajendra Place metro station robbery case. He saw blood stains on one of the suspect's shirts and got suspicious. But, before he could intercept and question them, they shoved him away and escaped.
Since the security man had no idea of what had transpired in the station control room (SCR), he did not feel the need to pursue them, said a senior CISF officer.
The robbers, meanwhile, had come fully prepared. They arrived at the Central Delhi’s metro station at 5.14 a.m. on Monday. They made entry through gate number 2 and went through the entire process of frisking and luggage scanning.
Senior CISF officers claimed that since there are few passengers at the station at that time of the morning it meant that the duo was properly frisked. “We have screenshots of the duo’s bag passing through the X-ray machine to prove that there was no knife inside,” said the officer.
One of the two men who wore surgical masks kept himself busy over phone during the entire process until he gained access to the control room. Who he was speaking to, if at all, remained unclear at the time of filing this report.
As to the use of surgical masks, officers said it was common to find passengers wearing them at metro stations such as Rajendra Place and AIIMS because the hospitals are nearby. The culprits obviously chose surgical masks to hide their faces.
The CCTV footage showed the duo acting very normal as they walked to the automated fare collection (AFC) gates where they swiped their smartcards. One of them gained entry while the other needed to go to the ticket counter before he could gain access.
They arrived outside the SCR located near platform number 2, at 5.22 a.m. They knocked on the ACR door, getting the night in-charge Kunal Kishore to partially open it. The duo was let in after almost a minute-long conversation.
Kishore later told the police that he allowed the duo inside the control room because they claimed they needed to register a complaint. They said they had not been returned their entire money when they had purchased tokens on Sunday. According to officials, it also indicated that the assailants were aware of an easy way to gain access into the control room, otherwise a restricted area for the public. The assailants were inside for 12 minutes and walked out of the SCR at 5.34 a.m. with Rs.12 lakh cash in their bags before making a quick exit from gate number 1.
It was during their exit that they were briefly and unsuccessfully intercepted by an alert CISF staff.
Meanwhile, inside the SCR, Kishore, who was stabbed, allegedly remained unconscious for almost 19 minutes, all through which no one else at the station got a whiff of what all had transpired. “He neither made any calls for help nor raised an alarm,” said the police.
When he finally walked out to go to the washroom located outside the SCR, his replacement, who was to take over from him at 6 a.m., noticed him bleeding and raised an alarm. Kishore was subsequently rushed to Sir Ganga Ram Hospital.
Police said the sharp object used in the assault was no longer than three inches.
CISF officials claimed it was likely that the assailants used one of the small knives or paper cutters kept in the SCR for daily office work.
According to CISF officials, the daily fare collection at the metro station is around Rs.6-7 lakh. “The banks were closed on Saturday and Sunday because of which the entire amount of Rs.12 lakh collected over the weekend was kept in an almirah in the SCR,” said an officer.
