Thane: Bank staffer and accomplices steal Rs 34 crore from vault, leave bags containing Rs 22 crore behind; 3 held

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It was meant to be a Rs 34 crore heist wherein thieves stole cash from a private bank's vault in Thane district and dropped the cash stuffed bags down the AC duct, but they could decamp with only Rs 12.20 crore, and within days of the crime three men were arrested, police said.

The main accused, the vault custodian, involved in the crime that took place at the Manpada branch of the bank in Dombivli is on the run along with others. Based on a tip-off, sleuths of the Thane crime branch's property cell laid a trap and nabbed Israr Abrar Hussain Qureshi (33), Shamshad Ahmed Riaz Ahmed Khan (33) and Anuj Premshankar Giri (30) from Mumbra in Thane district on Monday morning, senior police inspector Anil Honrao said in a release. The police recovered from them Rs 5.80 crore out of the stolen cash and property worth Rs 10 lakh, he said.

The theft came to light on July 11 when officials of the bank found Rs 34.20 crore missing from the cash chest. They tried to check CCTV footage but found that it was tampered with, a police official said. "While checking the room where the cash vault is kept, bank officials noticed the Air Condition (AC) duct was damaged. Upon checking further, they found seven bags abandoned in the duct, and to their surprise they found stolen cash worth Rs 22 crore stuffed into them," he said. According to bank officials, Altaf Shaikh was on duty as the cash vault incharge on July 9 when the crime is believed to have taken place. He had stepped out of the bank under the pretext of sipping tea but never returned, the police official said. The other accomplices of Shaikh have been arrested, he added. A complaint was lodged at Manpada police station on July 13.

Police suspect that the crime took place on July 9 and 10 when the bank was closed on the weekend. When the bank reopened on July 11, they found Rs 34.20 crore of cash had gone missing. According to police, the thieves failed to take away the seven bags containing Rs 22 crore either because they developed cold feet or due to some logistics issue. More details will emerge during the interrogation of the arrested persons, the police official said, adding that prima facie a small truck was used to take away Rs 12 crore in bags. The Manpada police have registered a case against the accused under Indian Penal Code Sections 381 (theft) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention), the official added.

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