The case in which Rs 12 lakh were looted from a cash collection van in Rohini last week and two custodians of the van were shot dead by unidentified assailants, has been transferred from the district police to the Crime Branch for a thorough probe.
The police informed that the Delhi Police’s Crime Branch is now probing the Rs 12 lakh robbery which took place on April 26. Police said the Crime Branch has begun the probe and is looking whether Haryana-based criminals are behind the robbery and killing as it happened close to the Haryana border.
“At the moment, we are studying the modus operandi of the accused and the probable escape routes. There have been similar incidents in the neighbouring areas and we are probing whether there are any linkages among them,” said an officer privy to the probe.
Besides questioning the employees of the cash collection company, according to police, they will also be seeking a list of firm’s former employees.
On 26 April, the incident occurred at 2.30 pm in west Delhi’s Narela near Vardhman mall when an SIS company’s van came to collect cash from a wine shop of DSIIDC (Delhi State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd). Three bike-borne assailants shot at shop’s cashier and a security guard when they were shifting the cash box to the van.
The deceased were identified as Rajnikant, who worked as a cashier in the shop, and security guard Prem Kumar, who accompanied the SIS cash van, he said.
“When Rajnikant was handing over the cash box containing Rs 12 lakh to Prem Kumar for keeping it in the van, three bike-borne criminals came close to them and two of them started firing at them indiscriminately. They escaped with the cash box after Rajnikant and Kumar collapsed on the ground,” Deputy Commissioner of Police Rajneesh Gupta said.
The police said that it was a case of planned robbery.
(With agency inputs)