17 amateurs gave shape to Punjab's biggest heist
Nitin Jain
Ludhiana, June 27
A honeytrap and money lust made a gang of 18 members rob Rs 8.5 crore from a cash management firm here recently, the police have said.
Deceptive mastermind
Police investigations have revealed that Mona was a greedy and deceptive woman, who was desperate to turn millionaire overnight. By posing as a highly educated and well-connected person, she had been duping gullible persons.
Except an accused facing charges of drug smuggling, all other 17 arrested robbers in the state’s biggest heist so far were first-timers, their interrogation has revealed.
Case cracked in 60 hours
Rs 8.5 cr looted from firm on June 9-10 night
18 accused, only one had criminal record
15 days after the 1st meeting, the gang executed robbery
Cracking the case within 60 hours, the police recovered Rs 7.14 crore, all five DVRs and a WiFi device from the accused. Sharing details, Commissioner of Police (CP) Mandeep Singh Sidhu told The Tribune here on Tuesday that a 28-year-old woman Mandeep Kaur, alias Mona, was the mastermind of the heist and she had honeytrapped the company’s cash van driver Manjinder Singh, alias Mani. “Mona conspired with Mani to rob the cash. They together lured 16 others from poor families, including a carpenter, an electrician and other skilled and unskilled workers, required for executing the robbery by offering them equivalent share in the booty,” Sidhu said. In a bid to get the maximum share, Mona had also roped in Jaswinder Singh, alias Jassa, of Barnala, whom she had married in March and her brother Harpreet Singh into the gang.
Interestingly, the gang committed the robbery within 15 days of its first meeting. Mona and Mani had met for the first time at Sudhar village on May 24 and later May 26, wherein they finalised the plan and committed the robbery on the intervening night of June 9 and 10.
“After successfully executing the heist, all robbers met at Dhatt village, where they had distributed the robbed cash and dispersed,” the CP shared.Mandeep Singh, alias Vicky, and Harwinder Singh, alias Lambu, were the first ones to be arrested from near Dhatt village on June 12, following which all other gangsters were caught one after another.
Upbeat over becoming a millionaire overnight, Harpreet had uploaded a reel of the robbed cash on his Instagram account, which the cops tracked and used to crack the case. Though robbers claimed to have not counted the cash, the difference of Rs 1.35 crore between the looted and recovered amount has raised suspicion over the exact sum robbed. To verify the role of the cash firm, a SIT led by JCP Saumya Mishra is on the job.
