ATM cash van loot: Three held in Noida, ₹24 lakh recovered, no trace of ₹16 lakh

Two weeks after a cash van replenishing an SBI ATM kiosk was attacked and ₹40 lakh cash was looted from it in Sector 82 of Noida in broad daylight, the police said they have arrested three suspects involved in the case and recovered ₹24 lakh of the looted money.

However, around ₹16 lakh cash is still missing, as according to the police, much of the money is assumed to have been looted by the public near the Sector 110 market on February 19 when the two suspects who were fleeing with the looted money met with an accident, resulting in their bag falling to the road and currency notes getting scattered in the air.

According to officers, while one of three suspects was nabbed by the public on the day of the incident, the other two were arrested on Sunday evening in Greater Noida during an operation against traffic violators in the city.

“We were running Operation Gherabandi for traffic violators on Sunday evening when two persons – Anil and Gajendra – who were involved in the ATM cash van loot incident, were intercepted near Kulesara border in the green belt area of Greater Noida. The duo, on a motorcycle, panicked after seeing the police which led to their motorcycle skidding on the road. Anil was nabbed there itself. Gajendra kept running and jumped from a bridge, but was also arrested. He was sent to the district hospital. He suffered a fracture in his left leg,” Vaibhav Krishna, senior superintendent of police, Gautam Budh Nagar, said.

Police said the third suspect, identified as Nanhe Khan, was nabbed by the public near Sector 110 market on the day of the incident.

On February 19, two men on a motorcycle approached an SBI ATM kiosk, adjacent to gate number 2 of Kendriya Vihar 2 society in Sector 82, where a cash van belonging to Login Agency was parked.

The suspects began firing indiscriminately at the two guards of the cash van, who also fired in retaliation. After a brief exchange of fire, the duo allegedly snatched a bag containing ₹40 lakh and fled on their motorcycle. However, after travelling 250 metres, the two met with an accident at the Sector 110 market intersection when a speeding Wagon R intentionally hit them from behind. The accident resulted in the cash bag flying in the air and a ruckus ensued as public nearby looted the money. Afterwards, when the police recovered the bag and nabbed Nanhe, they found only ₹19,65,000 out of the ₹40 lakh looted.

The SSP said Anil had reached the spot beforehand to do recce and keep a watch. They added that he had fled with ₹8 lakh.

“Jitendra and Nanhe were on the motorcycle while Anil was also posted nearby. When the accident took place, Anil managed to grab ₹8 lakh and fled. Jitendra and Anil managed to spend some money of their looted share and we recovered ₹4,40,000 from them. It has been presumed that some money has been looted by the public. We are still tracking the missing amount,” the officer said.

Both Anil and Gajendra are from Bulandshahr and according to the police, have been involved in several other loot incidents in the past.

Noida Police had come under criticism when, on February 22, Jitendra had surrendered in front of a magistrate in Surajpur court in a different criminal case and sought on February 26. Police had failed to secure arrest of the suspect then.

“Police came to know two days after Jitendra had surrendered. After he received bail, we announced a cash reward of ₹25,000 on his arrest. The three persons had committed another loot incident of ₹14 lakh in Noida in 2014 and another incident in Delhi,” Vaibhav said.

The two suspects were booked under Indian Penal Code sections 394 and 411 for voluntarily causing hurt while committing robbery and dishonestly receiving stolen property. They have also recovered two country made pistols and a motorcycle along with ₹4.4 lakh cash.