Cash van theft a "thorough" con job: police

A “thorough con job”, involving forged documents and intensive reconnaissance, has left the police confounded a day after a >private security employee made away with Rs. 50 lakh from a bank cash van on the busy M.G. Road on Wednesday.

Brinks Arya Pvt. Ltd., a private security firm which was handling the deposit of nearly Rs. 1 crore to ATM kiosks and banks in the city, had told the police that “Mahesh”, a resident of Nandini Layout, had joined the firm only on Monday as a junior supervisor.

However, Ulsoor police have found that documents given to the company were forged or faked. Police had grilled the members of a family in Nandini Layout, before being convinced that the addressed had been faked. “He had been impersonating someone else. We now believe that the name given was also false,” said a senior investigating officer.

The police believe the theft was planned for perhaps weeks. “We do not know how he convinced the security company to take him for a job. He created enough documentation as proof... We have very little to go by,” said the official.

Compounding the difficulty is the closure of banks due to the festivities and weekend till Monday.

Police are expected to get the CCTV footage only by next week from the banks and ATMS where the accused along with others had deposited money after having left their firm at Anepalya. “If the footage is grainy, we'll have difficulty identifying the accused…We have not seen this kind of modus operandi being used in the city so far,” he said.

Ulsoor police have registered a case under Section 408 of the IPC (criminal breach of trust by clerk or servant) and Section 420 (cheating).