Dream to strike it rich & 'love angle' behind Rs 8.49 cr heist in Punjab, claims police

Chandigarh, June 14 (IANS) It was the dream to strike it rich, a 'love angle' between the masterminds and a woman-led gang behind the Punjab's 'biggest heist' of Rs 8.49 crore in the office of CMS Info Systems Ltd, a cash management firm, based in Ludhiana city last week, said Police Commissioner Mandeep Singh Sidhu on Wednesday, adding that six of the 10 accused have been arrested.

He said Rs 5 crore has been recovered and the accused have no criminal past. All 10 accused are closely related and known to one another.

The gang of alleged robbers was led by Mandeep Kaur, whose husband and cousin were also blamed for the heist. The mastermind Kaur, her husband and her kin are still absconding.

Another mastermind Maninder Mani, an employee with CMS Info Systems Ltd for four years, has been arrested.

"In less than 60 hours we have solved one of the biggest heists with the support of counter intelligence," Police Commissioner Sidhu told the media here.

He said prima facie it seemed that the motive to commit the crime was to get overnight rich. "There seems to be a close proximity between Mandeep Kaur and Maninder Mani. Kaur was in need of money to go abroad," the Police Commissioner, who displayed bundles of seized currency notes, told the media.

The police used the GPS (Global Positioning System) system in tracking the movements of the suspects, all belonging to Punjab.

Sidhu blamed the company for negligence in the safety of the cash.

As a goodwill gesture, Director General of Police Gaurav Yadav has announced a cash reward of Rs 10 lakh for those who cracked the heist in a shortest possible crime.

In the early hours of June 10, the group barged into the office of CMS in the Aman Park area and held employees and security personnel captive and decamped with Rs 8.49 crore. They took away the cash van in which two rifles were also kept.

Later, the cash van with rifles was recovered from Pandori village. Several teams were formed to crack the case.

Earlier, Commissioner of Police Sidhu told the media the security system of the CMS company's office was outdated and the company had put the lives of its employees at risk.

He said during investigation the police found that the security system of the company was not working and the company officials were aware about it but they did not take it seriously as the money was insured.

Also they were not exactly aware of how much cash was kept on the company's premises and exactly how much was taken away.