Three of eight accused in cash van heist arrested, Rs 5.76 crore cash recovered

BENGALURU: Two days after a daring daylight robbery of Rs 7.11 crore from a cash van near Dairy Circle, the city police have successfully cracked the case with the arrest of three and recovery of Rs 5.76 crore. The police are on the lookout for the other accused in the robbery.

Speaking about the operation at a press conference on Saturday, Bengaluru City Police Commissioner Seemant Kumar Singh said the crime was committed by a group of eight people. “So far, three suspects have been arrested and Rs 5.76 crore has been seized. Initial information was that the incident occurred in DJ Halli. After we received information, one-and-a-half hours past the incident, all routes were immediately blocked. The robbers were not using mobile phones and parked their vehicles in places not covered by CCTV cameras. They spoke in different languages to mislead the investigation. On the day of the incident, the vehicle that carried the money could not be caught. They used many vehicles and kept changing the vehicle numbers”.

Police have arrested a KG Halli resident from Vellore. The accused, Xavier, had travelled to Tamil Nadu in a Wagon R, then abandoned the car in Kuppam and fled. He was later located by police near Vellore in Andhra Pradesh.

Top-Notch Policing: Bengaluru Cops Bring Down Cash Heist Gang in Just 60 Hours

In a major breakthrough, Bengaluru City Police have successfully cracked the high-profile ATM cash-van robbery case, arresting three key accused and recovering ₹5.76 crore in a record 60 hours. Their… pic.twitter.com/Na2GOUfftO

— Karnataka Portfolio (@karnatakaportf) November 22, 2025

Sources say that of the stolen money, Rs 5.5 crore was found at the house of a software engineer, Naveen. Police teams are conducting inspections at several lodges in Tirupati. Gopi, a current employee of CMS company, has been arrested; he was the one who provided information about the CMS vehicle’s movement and route map. Other key figures who are still at large are Ravi, Rakesh, Nelson, Jitesh and Dinesh.

According to a press release issued by the Office of the Bengaluru City Commissioner of Police, the incident took place on November 19, when it was reported that a currency chest van carrying Rs 7.11 crore was allegedly intercepted near the city’s DJ Halli area by individuals posing as RBI regulatory officers at 1.20 pm.

Subsequent investigation established that the crime had actually occurred earlier, at around 12:48 pm, along the Ashoka Pillar-Jayanagar-Dairy Circle route, with the gang forcibly taking control of the cash boxes, abandoning the vehicle by 1.16 PM, and escaping from the area. A case of dacoity involving the use of firearms was later registered at the Siddapura Police Station.

The press release noted that the crime was executed with exceptional precision. The perpetrators deliberately halted in CCTV shadow zones, avoided mobile phones entirely during the operation, used multiple languages to mislead potential surveillance and rotated between several vehicles with changed number plates.

The un-serialised nature of the stolen currency further complicated early tracking efforts. The statement also noted that premature and unofficial media reports in the initial hours posed additional challenges for investigators.

Despite these, the police launched a massive multi-state investigation involving officers from the South Division and the Central Crime Branch. Technical surveillance, analysis of vehicle movement patterns, and coordinated intelligence gathering extended across Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana, with some teams even stretching their search into Goa. Over 30 individuals were questioned as part of the probe, and within the first 24 hours, investigators identified the accused and the vehicles used in the operation.

By the 54-hour mark, three suspects had been detained, and by the 60th hour, a substantial Rs 5.76 crore had been recovered, along with one of the vehicles used in the heist. According to the police, the gang comprises six to eight members involved at different stages of planning, execution, and post-crime logistics.

The Bengaluru City Police Commissioner hailed the case detection as a demonstration of coordinated teamwork, rapid technical analysis, and efficient on-ground execution. Further investigation is under way to identify the remaining suspects and recover the remaining stolen cash.