It took a team of 200 police personnel 54 hours to crack one of the most sensational daylight ATM cash van robbery case that took place on November 19.
On Saturday (November 22), the police arrested a police constable and a fleet manager of CMS company and its former employee as key conspirators in the case.
The core conspirators were identified as Annappa Naik, J. Xavier, and Gopal Prasad, who were apprehended, and a substantial portion of the stolen cash, amounting to ₹5.76 crore, was recovered.
Hours later, another team of police arrested three more accused from a lodge in Hyderabad. The accused, identified as Naveen, Nelson, and Ravi were tracked down through CCTV footage which finally confirmed their presence while they were checking into a lodge.
The police also recovered ₹53 lakh from their possession, taking the total recovery in the case to ₹6.23 crore.
A team, led by inspector Ninganagouda and sub-inspector Kishore, traced the trio to Hyderabad, where they had taken shelter after the heist. The accused were being brought back to Bengaluru for further interrogation.
With the latest arrests, the number of accused held in the case has reached six, while two more suspects are at large. Police teams have intensified efforts to track down the absconding accused and recover the remaining ₹67 lakh.
City Police Commissioner Seemant Kumar Singh, while congratulating the team and announcing a reward of ₹5 lakh, said that efforts were on to track down the remaining accused.
He said that the heist was meticulously planned and was a near-perfect one, which was cracked in a record time.
On November 19, around 1.20 p.m., CMS reported that a currency chest van carrying ₹7.11 crore had been hijacked near Siddapura Lalbagh road by a gang posing as RBI officials.
The gang intercepted the cash van and took two security personnel in their car on the pretext of inquiry, while another accused boarded the cash van and asked the driver to drive towards Dairy Circle flyover.
He later stopped the vehicle near the flyover, took the cash box at gunpoint and escaped, while the other accused dropped the security guards and cash custodian on the way and fled from the scene to join the other accused with the cash box. The police got information about the robbery one-and-a-half hours later due to confusion and lack of coordination among the staff, which was being probed.
This helped the accused to escape from the city after changing vehicles with fake licence plates.
Challenges in cracking the case
The robbery was executed with meticulous planning and almost no operational slip-ups, said the police. Multiple stops were made in CCTV blind spots. No mobile phones were used during the operation. The gang communicated in multiple languages to mislead investigators. Several vehicles were used, with frequent changes in licence plates.
The stolen currency was not serialised, making tracking difficult. Early media reports based on unofficial inputs affected sensitive parts of the investigation.
“Despite these hurdles, the Bengaluru Police cracked the case rapidly through coordinated teamwork and intensive technical analysis,” Mr. Singh said.
The investigation
A massive multi-layered probe was launched, with teams comprising 11 police inspectors, two Assistant Commissioners of Police from the South Division, along with six police personnel from the Central Crime Branch.
Technical and field leads were pursued across Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana, with some teams extending operations to Goa.
Over 30 persons were questioned. CCTV footage, vehicle movement patterns, and local intelligence were analysed continuously.
Within 24 hours, the police had identified the suspects and the vehicles used in the heist, the officials said.
Breakthroughs
Three accused were identified and detained within 54 hours of the crime and ₹5.76 crore of the stolen cash was recovered within 60 hours. A vehicle used in the operation was traced and seized. The gang had around six to eight members who were involved in planning, execution, and movement of the stolen cash.
The police teams are making efforts to trace the remaining accused in multiple States to recover the remaining amount.
Published – November 22, 2025 09:44 pm IST
