RBI impersonators pull off Rs 7.11 crore daylight heist in Bengaluru; Karnataka police launch manhunt

Bengaluru: The Karnataka Police have launched a city-wide hunt on Thursday for the gang behind a shocking Rs 7.11 crore daylight heist.

The FIR filed in the case provides chilling details of the robbery, in which the accused, claiming to be officials from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), threatened the driver at gunpoint, forced the gunmen and another staffer out of the cash-refill vehicle, and carried out the theft.

The gang reportedly also seized the DVR installed in the truck.

The complaint was lodged by Vinod Chandrar, 47, branch manager of CMS Info System Limited in HBR Layout. The company withdraws cash daily from the HDFC Bank currency chest in ITI Layout, J.P. Nagar, Bengaluru, to refill ATMs across the city.

According to the FIR, on November 19 at 9:30 a.m., under the supervision of custodian Aftab, the company’s Tata Yodha vehicle (registration GJ-01-HT-9173) with driver Binod Kumar and gunmen Rajanna and Thammaiah left for duty. At 12:30 p.m., Rs 7.11 crore in cash was loaded into the truck from the HDFC Bank currency chest and taken for ATM refilling.

Faroq Pasha, CMS fleet manager, received a call from Binod Kumar reporting that five to six men in an Innova (registration KA-03-NC-8052) intercepted the truck near Ashoka Pillar on the route to Lalbagh Siddapur Gate.

“They identified themselves as RBI officials and instructed custodian Aftab and gunmen Rajanna and Thammaiah to get down from the vehicle and sit inside the Innova,” the complaint said.

The gang then forced Binod Kumar to drive the cash vehicle. He later said he did not know where his colleagues were taken. Threatened at gunpoint, he was made to hand over Rs 7.11 crore in cash on the Dairy Circle flyover. The robbers also snatched the mobile phones of all four staff members.

CMS technician confirmed that the DVR had been stolen from the vehicle. Preliminary investigations revealed that the robbery occurred along a stretch falling under the jurisdiction of three police stations, with the flyover lying at the intersection of these limits.

Bengaluru Police Commissioner Seemanth Kumar Singh has ordered the city to be placed on high alert, with intensified vehicle checks at city borders and barricades to prevent the gang from fleeing. Police noted the Innova used a fake number plate; KA-03-NC-8052 actually belongs to a Swift car from Kalyan Nagar.