The friend in Tower 3: How a Kolkata student’s Rs 1.5 crore heist fell apart over an Amazon order

The police arrested Harshvardhan Shaw, a Bachelor of Computer Applications (BCA) student, alleging that it was his desire for quick riches that led him to carry out the crime. (Express Photo)

The high-profile heist was cracked by the Anti-Burglary Section in Lalbazar and the Sarsuna police after digital footprints—including an Amazon order for a money-counting machine—betrayed Shaw.

According to the police, Shaw, a resident of Diamond City West residential complex on Ho-Chi-Minh Sarani, and his friend, a first-year BCA student at a prestigious college in Bhowanipore, stayed in the same building. While he stayed on the second floor, she stayed on the fifth.

Shaw learned that the family would be away between January 19 and January 23. According to police sources, he used a bar of soap to take an impression of the flat’s key and had a duplicate made. Then, he allegedly purchased a professional electric iron saw and a money-counting machine via Amazon specifically for the heist. Once inside the empty flat, he used the electric saw to cut through the back of the locker, decamping with 1.2 kg of gold jewellery, gold biscuits, and more than Rs 26.50 lakh in cash, the police alleged.

When the family returned and realised they had been robbed, in an attempt to divert suspicion, Shaw reportedly “helped” the family and even took the neighbour’s CCTV hard disk under the pretext of checking footage, only to steal it to destroy evidence, the police claimed.

The police suspected something amiss when they noticed that there were no signs of forced entry. “The place of occurrence revealed that this theft might be done by someone known to the complainant,” a police official stated.

The breakthrough came after the police looked at CCTV footage and checked CDR. “The suspect was closely interrogated, and it came to light that he had purchased a money-counting machine through Amazon on January 22. Phone data also revealed he searched for an electric saw on the internet. Subsequently, he admitted his involvement,” a senior police official said.

The police have successfully recovered the electric saw, the stolen jewellery, and a majority of the cash.

Shaw, the son of a Kolkata Municipal Corporation consultant, was produced in Alipore court on Monday and has been remanded to police custody until February 8.

The case, filed under Section 305 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita on charges of theft, remains under investigation as police work to recover the remaining stolen funds.