Thane: Police arrest 3 accused of Rs 12 crore theft at Manpada ICICI Bank

Thane: The Thane property cell team arrested three accused after nine days of the thefts of around Rs 12.20 crore from ICICI Bank Vault in Manpada at Dombivali.

On Monday, July 18 the three accused were arrested from Mittal Ground near Mumbra-Thane public road and Rs 5.80 crore was recovered from them. The main accused in the case is still at large.

The police officials from Thane property cell informed, "Altaf Shaikh (33) the main accused who stolen Rs 12.80 crore from ICICI Bank Vault at Manpada in Dombivali planned the whole plot. Shaikh a resident of Mumbra was working with the ICICI Bank from last nine years as a custodian. The bank lockers key used to be with him.

"On Saturday, July 9 he planned to steal around Rs 32 crore from the bank vault. He deactivated the alarm and CCTV camera of the bank for few hours and entered inside the bank in night from the small hole of air-condition on Saturday when the bank was closed. Since he was having the key he opened the locker and removed Rs 32 crore. He called tempo driver and promised Rs 5 crore to him too.

"At around 12:30am when the tempo came outside the bank the amount Rs 12.20 crore packed in two bags was kept inside the tempo and main accused and tempo driver ran away. The security outside the bank when realised that the CCTV camera and alarm not working and some sound coming from inside the bank he got alert and when he entered the bank he did not found the hard-disk and also found that the locker was open. The security guard then alerted the bank manager."

Police officials further added, "The bank security informed the bank manager soon after knowing about Rs 12.20 crore theft in bank on Saturday. The bank manager called the meeting of all the staff on Monday, July 11.

"When the meeting was about to start the custodian who is main accused told manager that he is suffering from head pain knowing about theft of Rs 12.20 crore and he need pain killer. The manager told him to go and take pain killer.

"The accused went out for pain killer and escaped from there. The bank manager on Thursday, July 14 registered a case against custodian at Manpada police station. The team of police went to the bank and found Rs 20 crore near the hole of bank air-condition. We accordingly started the investigation."

Anil Honrao, senior police inspector, property cell crime unit, Thane said, "Three teams including Thane property cell was formed to investigate the case. Our officials through technical know-how and also from close source received an information that the tempo driver Israr Qureshi (33) will be coming at Mittal ground an around 9:30 am.

"Our team as per received information laid a trap and arrested the accused. The team arrested him after four days of the complaint. After arresting him we interrogated him and he confessed that he was involved in the crime. He also told about his two associates to whom he has given Rs 20 lakh & one lakh respectively. Our team recovered Rs 5.80 crore from him and also other items worth Rs more than 10 lakh."

Honrao further added, "The arrested accused has been identified as Israr Qureshi (33), Samshad Khan (33) and Anuj Prem Giri (30). We have registered the case under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 381 and 34 and other sections will be added accordingly. The main accused Altaf Shaikh is still at large but he too will be arrested soon. The investigation is underway."