Dacoits posing as CBI officials loot 42 kg gold in Hyderabad Muthoot Finance

A fake CBI raid at the time of demonetization? It was indeed a master plan by the five dacoits who posed as CBI officers come to investigate false accounts and robbed jewellery worth more than 12 crores in broad daylight from the Muthoot Finance branch in Ramachandrapuram in the outskirts of Hyderabad. The five dacoits came in a red Scorpio vehicle around 9.00 a.m, easily gained entry into the ill-guarded bank by identifying themselves as officials from the CBI and the RBI . The bank employees were just settling in their seats when the theft occurred. The whole operation took only 20 minutes for the dacoits.

Lone watchman with only a stick was guarding the huge amount of gold inside

Another shocking revelation is that only one watchman, armed with nothing more than a stick was guarding the huge amount of gold (42 kg of gold and cash)inside Muthoot Finance branch. This is inspite of the fact that many banks and ATM centres have been targeted by robbers in the past few days, thanks to the demonetization chaos that has set in. Just two days back, unidentified gangs looted the branches of Manappuram Gold Finance Company and Muthoot Finance company in Gujarat and Maharashtra.

An inside job ?

It unfolded like a Hollywood bank robbery. “Two members of the gang told the employees that they wanted to verify the total cash and money in this branch. Another person from the gang said they were also investigating a theft that had occurred in Muthoot Finance,” said a senior officer with the Cyberabad police. The bank manager was ordered to open the safe. Only when the robbers were packing the jewellery in bags, boxes, did the bank officials realize that they were robbers! They just took the gold and walked out after locking the employees in the bathroom. The simplicity and perfect execution has prompted some to speculate that this must be an inside job.

Police in hot pursuit

Before leaving, they broke the CCTVs and took away the memory backup of the branch. Along with the gold they also took Rs 1 lakh in cash. Sniffer dogs and CLUES (detective) teams were pressed into service and police of teams from Cyberabad and Sanga Reddy district have begun vehicle checking on all important roads.

But the five man army seems to be ahead of the police already.