Musings: Twist in the Rs.5.78 crore cash train robbery tale

By Thomas  Kannamala (Southern Features)

IN and out of jail most of the time, a bunch of hardened criminals decided to carry out a mega cash robbery and settle down in life.

What better way to rob a train that carried Rs.342 crore cash.

They learnt through their intelligent network that the Chennai-bound Salem Express would carry Rs.342 crore of soiled but reusable cash to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Chennai, on the night of August 8, 2016.

They decided to rob it.

The groundwork for the grand heist began much earlier when the RBI had announced that soiled currency notes could be exchanged for new notes at the nearest commercial bank.

After extensive inquiries in Tamil Nadu, the gang chose Salem town as the best place of action. They found out that the banks in Salem would hand over the used notes to the Indian Overseas Bank. The IOB in turn would sort out, pack and send it to Chennai hiring a separate parcel van in the train.

The heist plan got the nod from the leader. A 16-member team was entrusted with the logistics and operational details. Moles were deployed to tap appropriate sources in the bank, railways and security to find out when the cash was being transported, the time, security arrangements, cash denominations, a safe drop zone for the stolen cash and escape routes.

The specialists reported that if the cash was sent between July last/August first weeks, moonlight would be minimal and that too around midnight. So the cash could be easily stolen from the running train, sneaking into the parcel van, drilling a hole on its roof. The cutting could be done with heavy metal cutting scissors.

The other plus points of the plan have been the absence of 25,000 volt AC electric wires above the roof, till the train reached Vridhachalam station. The electric engine takes over the train here. It runs mostly through thinly populated areas in the first two and a half hours of the night from Salem; no tall buildings by the track and the rooftop travellers would not be spotted.   

Five experts were chosen to climb the train, cut the roof and steal the cash. They were told that one crore Rs 500 note would weigh about 20 kg, and Rs1000 notes half of it. Only Rs1000, and then Rs.500 note denomination bundles are to be picked up. The lost cash had weighed about 90 kg, according to banking sources.

They boarded the Salem Express on August 8, 2016, robbed Rs.5.78 crore cash and escaped.

A 10-member police escort team under a Dy.SP who travelled in compartments behind and ahead of the targeted Parcel Van said the team members had examined its sealed locks at every station where the train stopped, and nothing amiss was found.

The robbery plan was so neat and simple that for two years the police had no clue about the criminals. A special Tamil Nadu police team, after scrutiny of the crime pattern, inputs from CCTV cameras, cell phone towers, toll plaza records and NASA satellite pictures of the train, had finally zeroed in on the Pardi gang. 

The Pardi tribe was a notified criminal gang during the British regime. Basically Pardi tribe members were hunter-gatherers. Even now, a large number of them are being arrested for serious crimes all over the country. The criminals from the Pardi group were involved in various cases across Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Delhi, Haryana, Gujarat and Maharashtra. The gang members stay on the roadsides or near railway tracks raising temporary shelters. They work as daily wage workers and street vendors and commit crimes with practised ease.

Five of the accused, H Mohar Singh of Guna district, Madhya Pradesh, Rusi Pardi, Mahesh Pardi, Krishna and Biltya were arrested. They confessed to the crime, and said the robbery was committed in one-hour time when the train was moving to Vridhachalam from Chinna Salem station.

Two members sneaked into the parcel van, gathered the Rs.500 and Rs.1000 currency bundles in lungies and passed it on to the persons on the roof. As the train passed through a desolate, prefixed area near Vridhachalam station, the bundles were tossed out to fellow gang members waiting by the trackside. They were among the bush, pretending to ease themselves.

The moon was yet to rise.

The squatters spotted the loot, waited till the train passed, picked up the bundles and calmly walked to their roadside tent. They slept over the bundles. The theft came to the notice of RBI officials when they came to claim the cash around 11 am the next day and reported it to the police. It was announced as a news break by noon.  

By the time, the robbers had gone beyond the frontiers of the state.

Twist in the tale: According to the arrested gang members, they bought properties worth Rs.1.78 crore with the stolen money and shared a large portion of the cash with other members of the Pardi gang. Spending was easy, as the notes were genuine.

It was while they were planning a big bash with the remaining Rs.2 crore, the Government of India had announced the demonetization of Rs.1000 and Rs.500 notes on November 8, 2016, exactly three months after the robbery.

With a heavy heart, the gang consigned the remaining two crores of cash to…flames.