23 hrs later, an empty car

The men who robbed a city bank's employees of Rs61 lakh, on Thursday morning, cruised within a crowded 1.8 km radius of the crime scene - yet, it took cops 23 hours to find the getaway car.

Incredibly, the criminals managed to dodge notice although a citywide police alert had been sounded after the employees of the Progressive Mercantile Co-operative Bank, who were travelling in a car, were waylaid and assaulted.

The criminals, who struck near the Parimal Garden, abandoned their white Maruti 800 at Mahasweta Society, which lies close to the spot at which the heist took place.

In fact, the car was found only after some citizens informed the police about its location.

 “I notified the police about an abandoned car in the society after Mihir Joshi, the owner of the bungalow near which the car was found, told me about it,” said Devang Vora, a local leader.
 
The car, which hurtled away from the crime scene, near Mruduchandra Society in Parimal Garden, at around 10:45 am, was ditched at Mahasweta Society at around 11:30 am.

But at that time, those who saw the car entering the society would not have known anything about the vehicle or its deadly occupants.
After parking the car inside Mahasweta Society, the audacious criminals asked some residents for directions out of the society. The robbers allegedly took another vehicle, some 300 metres from where the Maruti was abandoned.

An eyewitness, who did not want to be named, told DNA that five people had come out of the car with a big suitcase. “The men first took a road that led to a dead-end,” she said. “After returning, they asked me about a way out of the society,” She said that she had been with four or five women from the society when the robbers asked for help.