Maharashtra / Pune : 12 crores looted from the bank after planning for a year, kept hiding identity by wearing a burqa, dustbin used for cash theft
Police in Pune, Maharashtra have arrested the main accused involved in the theft of Rs 12.20 crore cash from ICICI Bank. The police was on the lookout for the accused for the last two and a half months. Police said the accused has been identified as Altaf Sheikh and around Rs 9 crore has been recovered from him. Giving information in this matter, it was said that the incident took place on July 12 at ICICI Bank in Manpada area of Thane. Along with this, five accused, including the sister of the accused, Nilofar, have been arrested. The police came to know about the entire plan of robbery from these accused and then the officers took action.
The accused was the custodian in ICICI Bank
Manpada police station official said that Altaf Shaikh, a resident of Mumbra, was working as a custodian in the bank. As a custodian, the keys of the bank’s locker were kept with him. The officer said that the accused had started planning the theft a year ago, in which he explained the flaws of the system as part of the planning.
Cash transported in dustbin through AC duct
The officer said that during the investigation, the police found that Shaikh had opened the safe of the bank, enlarged the AC duct, dumped the cash in the dustbin and during this he also tampered with the CCTV cameras, the officer said. The whole plan also included disabling the alarm system. Later, when the security money of the bank went missing, the bank officials started investigation.
Absconding for two and a half months, hiding identity with burqa
After the robbery, Shaikh fled and changed his appearance, police said. On most of the occasions, he used to wear a burqa to hide his identity. Apart from this, he had also hidden some of the loot money with his sister Nilofar, who has been arrested by the police as a co-accused in the case.
The sister of the accused has also been arrested
The official said Shaikh was arrested from Pune on Monday. Before Sheikh, his sister Nilofar and three other accused had been arrested. However, it is believed that some more people may also be arrested in this case.
