Man held for Rs 79 lakh robbery bid

The accused snatched a bag full of cash from an infra firm's employees and tried to flee, but was caught soon after

Alert public nabbed a man trying to rob employees of an infrastructure firm of Rs 79 lakh near a bank yesterday. The accused, Mohan N (30), was later handed over to the police. A resident of Malur in Kolar district, Mohan had suffered losses to the tune of nearly Rs 6 lakh in his cellphone business and came to Bangalore with the intention of making a quick buck to repay his loans, said a police officer.


Crime doesn't pay: Mohan had suffered losses to the tune of nearly
Rs 6 lakh in his cellphone business and came to Bangalore with the intention
of making a quick buck to repay his loans. Pic/Manjunath L Hanji

For the past week, Mohan had been identifying possible targets, the officer said. "On Saturday, he studied the proceedings at Allahabad Bank's Kempegowda branch. He found that all high value cash transactions have to be done at the main branch at MG Road and the staff usually takes the customers there for the transaction.

However, no big transaction took place on Saturday, so he returned to the bank yesterday," he added.
"At 1 pm, Pratik and Manikya Gupta, employees of Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprises (NICE) came to the bank to deposit Rs 79 lakh. Bank employees asked them to do so at the main branch," said the officer.

Just as the bank staff members and NICE employees were boarding a car to go to the main branch, Mohan snatched the bag containing the money and ran, the police said.

"The victims raised an alarm. Passersby, on hearing their cries for help, chased Mohan and caught him. A crowd gathered at the spot and beat Mohan up. He was later handed over to the Upparpet police," said the officer.

Mohan has confessed to his crime, the police said. He told the cops that this was his first attempt at robbery.

"He lost money in his cellphone business in Kolar, and to attract more customers, he launched several schemes. He had taken loans for these schemes, which failed," said an officer.

PI Lokeshwar said, "Though he told us it was his first attempt, we are probing further to verify his claims. He will be produced in court today."