Posing as CBI officers, trio loot lakhs in cash and jewellery from Delhi businessman

In a heist inspired by a Bollywood thriller, a woman, a shopkeeper, and an unemployed man posed as CBI officers and raided a businessman’s house in north Delhi, making off with cash and jewellery worth lakhs of rupees.

The three were held after a week-long operation that took Delhi Police teams to Haridwar and Mussoorie, Deputy Commissioner of Police (North) Raja Banthia said.

According to police, the 22-year-old woman is a distant relative of the victim and was aware of the cash and jewellery kept at his Wazirabad house.

She roped in Keshav Prasad, 28, who runs a food supplement store in Haridwar, and Vivek Singh, 20, an unemployed student from Delhi’s Johripur area, to hatch the plan.

“On the evening of July 10, the trio knocked on the door of the complainant’s house. Dressed in white shirts and black trousers with masks covering their faces, they introduced themselves as CBI officials from the Okhla branch,” said the DCP.

They claimed to be acting on an FIR and said that they had a warrant to search the house. When the family asked to see the document, they trio rebuked them and demanded cooperation.

They then broke open an almirah and claimed that they were “seizing” cash worth Rs 3 lakh along with gold and silver jewellery, police said.

“When the complainant asked for an acknowledgment for the seized items, the accused wrote a few lines and signed using fake names in a notebook belonging to the complainant’s daughter,” the DCP said.

Realising something was amiss, the family called the police but by then, the imposters had vanished.

Following the registration of a case, police launched a probe and scanned footage from 200 CCTV cameras in the area, which eventually led the investigators to a motorcycle parked outside the victim’s house during the incident.

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“The registration number of the bike was traced to Karawal Nagar and the owner was identified as Keshav Prasad, but he was not found at his residence,” said the DCP.

Technical surveillance of the accused’s mobile phones revealed that they were constantly on the move, shifting locations between Haridwar and Mussoorie.

“After tracking them for days, our team finally managed to nab Keshav and the woman from Mussoorie on July 18. The third accused, Vivek, was arrested from Haridwar the same day,” he said.

During interrogation, the accused confessed to the heist. The woman revealed she had learnt about the valuables in the house during family visits and planned the “raid” to execute the robbery. She roped in Prasad, who in turn brought in Singh, his neighbour, to complete the team.

As part of their disguise, they bought formal clothes and plotted every detail, including how to act like officers and how to convince the family during the fake search.

After the robbery, the trio checked into hotels and changed locations frequently, even splurging some of the stolen money on travel and luxury.

The police recovered Rs 1.75 lakh in cash, 29 pieces of gold and silver jewellery, the motorcycle used in the crime.