Authorities in India have detained seven suspects in connection with an audacious 70 million rupees heist (equivalent to $800,000 or £600,000) in which armed men impersonated officials from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to rob an ATM cash transport vehicle.
Police in Bengaluru announced on Saturday that they had successfully unraveled the case and recovered approximately 57.6 million rupees of the stolen funds, which were taken three days prior. On Sunday, Bengaluru Police Commissioner Seemant Kumar Singh confirmed to the BBC that a seventh individual had been arrested in the city, while noting that authorities were still assessing the exact amount of cash “currently in his possession.”
According to Singh, the investigation remains ongoing, with officers actively searching for “two or possibly three additional” individuals believed to be linked to the operation. Among those already detained are Gopal Prasad, an employee of the CMS cash transport firm; former CMS staff member J Xavier; and Annappa Naik, who serves as a constable in the local police force.
The robbery, which occurred in the Lalbagh locality of Bengaluru, was carried out in broad daylight. Members of the gang—dressed as RBI officials—intercepted the cash van, claiming they needed to verify documentation associated with the substantial amount of money being transported. Police stated that the cash custodian and the two security personnel on board were instructed to enter an SUV, while one of the suspects commandeered the money-laden vehicle.
Investigators revealed that the perpetrators used a sophisticated strategy, changing vehicles, employing counterfeit license plates and selecting handover spots with limited CCTV surveillance to facilitate the transfer of cash boxes and avoid detection.
Following the incident, law enforcement initiated a large-scale operation on Wednesday, deploying over 200 police officers throughout Karnataka and extending the search across neighboring states—including Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Goa.
Detectives are currently probing whether CMS may have failed to comply with operational guidelines governing cash transportation. Commissioner Singh pointed out that, for safety reasons, cash transit routes and timings should be varied, stating, “The vans should not take the same route and follow the same timings repeatedly, as this makes their movement predictable.”
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