The great train robbery: Entire cash stolen belonged to IOB

Chennai: While no arrest has been made yet in the big train robbery, sleuths probing the disappearance of Rs 5.78 crore out of the Rs 342 crore worth soiled currency notes in the sealed coach VPH-08831 have stumbled on some interesting leads.

Apart from 16 railway staff of Egmore station, several persons belonging to the various banks of Salem region, whose notes were packed in boxes and transported in the coach for handling by the Reserve Bank of India, are being questioned by the investigators in the railway police force.

Multiple agencies are said to be handling the probe, including the state crime branch CID and the railway police, sources said. One major lead that has emerged is that there is strong possibility that coach VPH-08831 was already ‘punctured’ using chisels, axe and hammers to make 2-ft cuts on three sides while leaving the fourth side uncut.

“This could have been done to avoid detection by the loading staff spotting the large hole in the ceiling. Once the loading was done and the train moved, the thieves could have got atop the coach when the train was moving at snail's pace about two km before Virudhachalam,” said an officer involved in the probe.

It had taken the train 30 minutes to cover those two kms; so the slow speed could have helped in the thieves getting atop the coach and slip through the hole in the roof after forcing down the three cut sides. And then, they could have helped themselves to the Rs.500 notes (worth Rs.5.78 crore) from some boxes belonging to the IOB, Salem branch, and dropped the stuffed bags down the track for picking by accomplices coming behind", said an officer involved in the probe.

Another officer said the thick roof sheet could have been cut either during the one week when the coach was parked in the Erode railway yard before being moved to the Salem yard on Monday morning. "Or it could have been done when the coach was parked in the Salem yard from 0750 to 1000 hours when the loading began. This is unlikely as the gang would have only two hours and also possible threat of intrusion by the police and other officials", he said.

"One interesting element is that the entire stolen cash belonged to the IOB", he added, indicating that the probe could bestow extra attention to persons related to that bank.