How the man behind Bhopal’s biggest bank robbery was foiled by fate

Do you know about Bhopal’s biggest bank robbery? An unsolved crime?The 'money heist' resulted in Rs 25 lakh vanishing from a bank overnightCCTV cameras showed a man in creased pants breaking inA true crime drama podcast about how the bank robber was not caught, but punishedA slim, well-dressed man robbed a bank on an October evening in 2016 in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. The Shirdi temple in the city's Shahpura area was crowded with devotees. Yet, no one saw or heard anything. When the police came the morning after, everything was in order. Except for the shattered glass on the floor, the broken locks and the hole in the safe. And Rs 24.9 lakh was gone. It was one of the biggest bank robberies in the history of Bhopal. The man behind the crime, labelled the Shahpura bank robbery, was meticulous. None of the money was ever found. Yet, the file has been closed. A meticulous heistSome of the CCTV cameras in the bank weren’t working on the night of October 26, 2016. But, on one camera, a smartly dressed man in creased pants and fancy shoes was captured. He seemed middle-aged, between 45 and 55 years old, and walked with a nimble gait.The robber, who wasn't wearing a mask, knew there was no overnight guard at the Bhopal Cooperative Central Bank Ltd. He also knew the alarms to alert the police and neighbours, in case of a break-in, would not work.The CCTV camera recorded the robber pulling out a small iron rod to open the bank’s grille. He broke through a few more locks and finally reached the safe. Using a small gas cutter, he cut holes in the bank’s safe. He had timed the robbery to coincide with when evening traffic would peak and the sound of his activities wouldn’t be heard. No one outside had a clue that Bhopal's biggest bank robbery was in progress.When he finally broke through the safe, he took only the bundles of the high denomination Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes and left the smaller denominsation notes behind. After packing his bag with the notes and his equipment, he shut the safe’s door.He then disabled some of the CCTVs so that they wouldn’t record how he got out. Despite leaving fingerprints across the bank branch, the thief never bothered erasing them in any way.Everything had gone according to plan. An investigation that went nowhereOn the morning of October 27, it was a bank peon who discovered the robbery. The lock was gone, the bank’s shutter was open, the door ajar and the lights in the branch were switched on. He quickly alerted the police.The police meticulously noted down everything the robber had touched and the fingerprints were recorded. Suspecting the involvement of someone familiar with the branch, the police went through pictures of customers, bank employees, contract staff and third-party vendors. But none of them looked like the man captured on the CCTV camera.The fingerprints didn’t match any known criminals and no one in the locality had any information that was of help. Despite the man's face and the fingerprints, the police probe had hit a wall and there were no leads left to pursue.They concluded that this was likely a one-time robbery and the thief may have retired to a nondescript town. Why the file was closed (spoiler alert!)The robber behind the Shahpura bank robbery was never found. Nor was the money. But the file has now been closed.On the November 8, 2016, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the demonetisation of Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 notes, which would cease to be legal tender. All notes taken in the Shahpura bank robbery were only Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes. The ‘perfect crime’ had thus been foiled by fate. And somewhere, there's a bag full of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 demonetised notes not even worth the paper they were printed on.Voices: Pallavi Bharti, Abhishek Sharma, Sanyam Sharma, Surjan Singh and Sahil GuptaAudio production: Sahil Gupta