Bengaluru’s own Louvre heist? How a fake RBI crew stole ₹7.11 crore in 30 mins, that too in broad daylight

In what could be considered India's Louvre heist, Bengaluru on Wednesday (Nov 19) saw a group of men posing as Reserve Bank of India officials pull off an unprecedented daylight robbery. The robbers pulled off a high-precision heist in south Bengaluru, stealing and escaping with Rs 7.11 crore ($801,311) from an ATM cash van, leaving investigators scrambling to piece together how it unfolded so smoothly. Here's what happened, step-by-step.

The cash run that started it all

The day began like any other for the CMS Inno System Ltd crew. Around 9.30 am, the van rolled out of the JP Nagar base with driver Binod Kumar, custodian Afthab, and gunmen Rajanna and Tammayya. By 12:24 pm, they had collected Rs 7.11 crore from the HDFC currency chest, packed the money into trunks, and set out to refill ATMs across the city, according to the company's FIR.

A fake RBI check stops the van

The heist began as the van reached near the Ashoka Pillar in Jayanagar, en route to Lalbagh Siddapura Gate. There, a fleet of cars, including a Maruti Zen and an Innova with a Government of India sticker cut off the van, and five to six men stepped out. Introducing themselves as RBI officials, these men said they were conducting a documentation check. "We are RBI officials. There is a complaint against your firm for violating RBI guidelines. We have to record your statements," they allegedly told the staff.

Reports suggest that police initially believed that the gang had pretended to be Income Tax officers, but later confirmed they used RBI IDs.

Separating the guards from the money

Once the van stopped, the impostors executed their next move. They ordered all four staffers to step out. Three of them, including the two gunmen, were bundled into the gang’s Innova. "Come to the police station and we’ll take your statements. Before that, we should take the cash boxes to the RBI," they were told.

Kumar, the driver, alone, was told to continue driving the cash van, a move that cleverly separated the guards from the cash without resistance.

A gun, a flyover, and a handover

On the Dairy Circle flyover, things escalated. The attackers cornered Kumar again, this time at gunpoint, and forced him to surrender all three cash boxes. The Rs 7.11 crore was quickly moved into a getaway vehicle, a Maruti WagonR. In minutes, the fake RBI officers vanished.

Gone in 30 mins

The three abducted staffers were dropped near Dairy Circle, shaken but unharmed. The abandoned cash van was later traced via GPRS on Hosur Road. Crucially, the gang removed the DVR unit, wiping out the van's internal camera footage and removing a key trail. All of this happened in merely 30 minutes.

Police scramble to locate the fake RBI officers

Bengaluru Police Commissioner Seemanth Kumar Singh said over 50 CCTV feeds are being examined to trace the vehicles used in the heist. He admitted delays in getting details from the crew slowed the first response, but said multiple special teams and citywide checkpoints have now been activated.

First-of-its-kind incident

Home Minister H Parameshwara called the robbery a first-of-its-kind incident in the city. He said "important leads" had already surfaced, and the chief minister had ordered police to prioritise cracking the case.