Bengaluru: Arrest of three accused in ₹7.11 crore robbery case, ₹5.76 crore recovered
Information from the Bengaluru City Police Commissioner
Bengaluru: Three accused involved in the robbery of ₹7.11 crore being transported for loading into ATM machines have been arrested by the Bengaluru South Division police.
Ravi, a supervisor with CMS Securities Custodian Vehicle, former employee Xavier, and Annappa Naik, a constable of Govindapura Police Station, have been arrested. An amount of ₹5.76 crore has been recovered from them. The arrests were made within 54 hours of the case being reported. According to the police, a total of six to eight people may have been involved in the crime. Search operations for the remaining accused are underway, Bengaluru City Police Commissioner Seemant Kumar Singh said at a press conference today.
Three months of planning
The accused had been planning the robbery for the past three months and had identified the location for the crime about 15 days in advance. On 19 November, around 12:48 pm, they arrived in a car with a fake number plate along the Ashoka Pillar–Jayanagar–Dairy Circle route. They intercepted the custodian vehicle, claimed to be RBI regulatory officials, and forced the security staff and custodian staff to get down. Another accused then sat inside the custodian vehicle and instructed the driver to move towards Dairy Circle, the Commissioner said.
The accused then forced the security and custodian staff into their car, seized their mobile phones, and dropped them near NIMHANS before fleeing. By the time the police received reliable information on the incident, about an hour and a half had passed. The investigation was challenging as the accused avoided areas with CCTV cameras, did not use mobile phones, and the robbed currency notes were not in serial order, the Commissioner added.
Once information on the incident was received, SPs of border districts of Bengaluru and police officials of neighbouring states were alerted. Eleven teams comprising around 200 officers and staff, under the guidance of two Joint Commissioners and led by two DCPs, were deployed to Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana. The three accused were subsequently arrested.
Cash reward announced
A total of ₹5.76 crore hidden in locations across the outskirts of Bengaluru and other areas has been recovered. Search operations for the remaining accused continue. A cash reward of ₹5 lakh has been announced for the investigation team, Commissioner Seemant Kumar Singh said.
Lapses on part of the security agency
As per RBI regulations, the cash-carrying vehicle must have a driver, two security personnel, and two custodian staff. The custodian vehicle must not repeatedly use the same route or schedule. Employees must be trained in cash-handling protocols, background checks must be conducted, and any employee dismissed by the custodian company must be reported to the police.
However, certain lapses have been found on the part of CMS Securities. A report will be sent to the Reserve Bank of India, the Commissioner added.
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Opposition plans to move fresh notice seeking removal of CEC Gyanesh Kumar
New Delhi (PTI): Undeterred by the rejection of their earlier notices, opposition parties are planning a fresh move to seek the removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, sources said on Saturday.
According to highly placed sources, leaders from several opposition parties are in talks, and at least five senior MPs from different parties -- including the Congress, the Trinamool Congress, the Samajwadi Party and the DMK -- are working on drafting a new notice to initiate removal proceedings.
It has, however, not yet been decided which House the notice would be moved in, or whether it would be introduced in both Houses as was done last time, the source added.
Buoyed by the defeat of The Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, 2026 in Lok Sabha on Friday, opposition leaders are aiming to secure more MPs' signatures on the notice and are looking at garnering at least 200, the source said.
"We want to make a statement. We first need to prove that the number last time was underestimated," the source added.
In its earlier notices, the opposition had accused CEC Kumar of a "failure to maintain independence and constitutional fidelity" and of acting under the "thumb of the executive".
The notices levelled sweeping charges against the CEC, alleging “proved misbehaviour” on grounds including a compromised and executive-influenced appointment, partisan functioning -- such as the alleged “graded response” doctrine targeting opposition leaders -- obstruction of electoral fraud investigations, and erosion of transparency through refusal to share data and materials.
They further accused him of enabling large-scale disenfranchisement via Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercises in Bihar and elsewhere, defying or delaying compliance with Supreme Court directions, and acting in alignment with the political executive, thereby undermining the independence of the Election Commission.
However, in almost similar responses, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and Rajya Sabha Chairman C P Radhakrishnan rejected the notices, holding that even if the allegations were assumed to be true, they did not meet the high constitutional threshold of “misbehaviour” required for removal.
They reasoned that appointment-related issues or prior government service do not constitute misconduct; differences in public statements or administrative decisions lack evidence of wilful abuse of authority; and actions like data-sharing or electoral roll revisions fall within the commission’s constitutional mandate and are subject to judicial review.
The responses also stressed that many issues cited were either speculative, politically interpretative, or sub judice, and that removal proceedings cannot be based on disagreement or perceived political consequences but require clear, specific, and provable misconduct, which, they concluded, was absent in this case.
