On Saturday (November 22), police arrested a police officer and a fleet manager from the CMS company and his former employee as key conspirators in the case.
The main conspirators were identified as Annappa Naik, J. Xavier and Gopal Prasad, who were apprehended, and a significant portion of the stolen money, worth ₹5.76 crore, was recovered.
Hours later, another police team arrested three more suspects from a lodge in Hyderabad. The suspects, identified as Naveen, Nelson and Ravi, were traced through CCTV footage which eventually confirmed their presence while they were checking into a lodge.
The police have also recovered ₹53 lakh from their assets, 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 refuge after the robbery. The suspects were taken back to Bengaluru for further interrogation.
With the latest arrests, the number of suspects held in the case has risen to six, while two suspects are still at large. Police teams have intensified their efforts to trace the absconding suspects and recover the remaining ₹67 lakh.
While congratulating the team and announcing a reward of ₹5 lakh, Police Commissioner Seemant Kumar Singh said efforts were on to track down the remaining suspects.
He said the heist was meticulously planned and nearly perfect, and was cracked in record time.
On November 19, around 1.20 pm, CMS reported that a cash box van with ₹7.11 crore on board was hijacked near Siddapura Lalbagh road by a gang posing as RBI officials.
The gang intercepted the cash van and took away two security personnel in their car on the pretext of investigation, while another suspect boarded the cash van and asked the driver to drive to Dairy Circle flyover.
Later, he stopped the vehicle at the flyover, took the cash box at gunpoint and escaped, while the other accused ditched the security guards and cash custodian on the way and fled the scene to join the other suspect with the cash box. Police received information about the robbery an hour and a half later due to confusion and lack of coordination among the personnel under investigation.
This helped the suspect escape from the city after switching vehicles with fake number plates.
Challenges in solving the case
The robbery was carried out with meticulous planning and virtually no operational errors, police said. Several stops were made in blind spots of camera surveillance. No mobile phones were used during the operation. The gang communicated in multiple languages to mislead investigators. Various vehicles were used, with license plates being changed regularly.
The stolen currency was not serialized, making tracing difficult. Early media reports based on unofficial input influenced sensitive parts of the investigation.
“Despite these hurdles, the Bengaluru Police solved the case quickly through coordinated teamwork and intensive technical analysis,” Mr Singh said.
The research
A massive multi-layered investigation was launched, with teams comprising eleven police inspectors, two assistant commissioners of police from South Division, along with six police personnel from the Central Crime Branch.
Technical and field leaders were tracked in Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, with some teams expanding their operations to Goa.
More than thirty people were interviewed. CCTV footage, vehicle movement patterns and local intelligence were continuously analyzed.
Within 24 hours, police had identified the suspects and the vehicles used in the robbery, officials said.
Breakthroughs
Three suspects were identified and detained within 54 hours of the crime and ₹5.76 crore of the stolen money was recovered within 60 hours. A vehicle used in the operation was traced and seized. The gang had approximately six to eight members who were involved in the planning, execution and movement of the stolen money.
The police teams are trying their best to trace the remaining suspects across multiple states to recover the remaining amount.
Published – Nov 22, 2025 9:44 PM IST
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