Kerala man behind 2-minute bank heist ‘wanted to clear debt before wife returned from Gulf’

Thrissur range DIG Hari Sankar said digital evidence and CCTV footage helped police track Antony down.

According to police, the accused used to go to a church opposite the bank. From the church, he would watch the bank and note the security arrangements. By watching the movement of people at the bank, he also found the time at which the bank had the least amount of customers, police said.

“On the day of the robbery, he arrived at the bank on a scooter with fake number plates. However, with CCTV footage showing the same scooter moving around the area after the heist, we decided to look for people using that particular brand of scooter. From the church, we collected the list of people with such a scooter and checked the movement of the scooter owners. This took us to the accused,” the DIG said.

According to police, the accused went to his house after robbery via by-roads. He had also changed the jacket that he had worn at the time of the robbery.

DIG Sankar said the accused is unemployed and lived off the money sent by his wife, a nurse working in the Gulf. “He was leading a lavish life, squandering away the money sent by his wife. He had also caused a liability of Rs 10 lakh. With his wife set to come home next month, he wanted to clear the liability and that was why he planned the robbery. Everything was planned in just two weeks,” the DIG said.

CCTV visuals showed a backpack-wearing man pulling up outside the Federal Bank branch at Potta at around 1.30 pm on Friday — when most of the staff was away on lunch break.

The footage showed the man threatening the two staff members on duty with a knife and locking them inside the washroom. He then smashes down the glass chamber of the cash counter using a chair and escapes with the cash. The entire sequence, said police, took only two-and-a-half minutes

The cash counter had Rs 47 lakh, but the accused took only Rs 15 lakh, police said.