Gurugram: Court dismisses bail application of accused in multi-crore heist case

In an order on March 2, the court said, “The name of the present petitioner has clearly appeared in the disclosure statement made by ASI Vikas and even an amount of Rs 3.90 crore has also been produced voluntarily by the petitioner himself at the office of Special Task Force (STF). Where the whole money, except the total recovered money of nearly Rs 6 crore, has been shifted through hawala, that is lying in the knowledge of the present petitioner.”

Sandeep had surrendered at STF’s office on November 9, 2021, and after he was taken into custody, Rs 1.91 crore, including US dollars and gold bricks, was recovered from him.

The court further observed, “Though the instant matter was represented initially by the complainant company as well as the investigating agency as minor theft, yet during the investigation, it was revealed that the complainant company had kept the black money of Rs 30 crores in its flat-cum-office…In such circumstances, this court is having a view that petitioner is not entitled to the concession of bail.”

The theft, reported on August 21 last year was initially suspected to be of Rs 50 lakh. Police probe so far has found that on the intervening night of August 3 and 4, 2021, at least Rs 30 crore was stolen from the office-cum-flat of Alpha G Corp Management Services Private Ltd in Sector 84 of Gurugram.

In the initial FIR registered at Kherki Daula police station, the complainant, Santosh Singh, an employee of Alpha G Corp maintaining project Gurgaon One, Sector 84, had not mentioned the amount stolen. In a supplementary statement on August 26, 2021, the complainant stated that Rs 50 lakh was stolen.

According to a chargesheet filed by STF, three representatives-cum-employees of the complainant company had recorded their statement before the police under Section 161 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) in which they had stated that their company was intending to purchase a 3-acre property at Sector 28 in Gurugram and for that purpose, a cash amount of Rs 30 crore had been kept at their company office.

In a disclosure statement to the police, the alleged mastermind of the heist, Dr Sachinder Kumar Nawal, had said that he had handed over a bag containing 3 kg gold bricks, $1,35,000 and Rs 62,000 [total value of Rs 2.5 crore] to Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Dheeraj Setia, the then Gurgaon DCP at the time of the theft, at his house for covering up the case in September 2021.

Setia, against whom the Prevention of Corruption Act has been invoked in the case, was suspended on December 10, 2021, after the court had put under scanner allegations of bribery against him. Setia was granted interim bail by the Punjab and Haryana High Court last week.

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