'Bandit Hasina', mastermind of Rs 8.49cr heist, arrested in U'khand

Chandigarh, June 17 The Punjab Police on Saturday succeeded in its operation of "cage the queen bee" with the arrest of the mastermind of last week's heist of Rs 8.49 crore, Mandeep Kaur, a.k.a. Mona, who has been named 'Bandit Hasina', from the office of CMS Info Systems Ltd, a cash management firm, based in Ludhiana, along with her spouse Jaswinder Singh while returning from a famous Sikh shrine in Uttarakhand.

Commissioner of Police Mandeep Singh Sidhu confirmed the arrest of the couple. The police also arrested one of their accomplices.

Earlier, the police arrested six accused Manjinder Singh Mani, Mandeep Singh, Harvinder Singh, Paramjit Singh, Harpreet Singh and Narinder Singh and recovered Rs 5 crore from them.

The police recovered Rs 12 lakh on information about Kaur that was concealed in the under-seat of her mother's scooter.

Responding to the arrest of the couple, Commissioner of Police Sidhu said all the accused had wished that they would pay obeisance at Kedarnath, Haridwar and Hemkund Sahib after a 'successful robbery'.

Kaur and her husband were arrested by a team of Punjab Police while they were returning from Hemkund Sahib.

"When the couple came to know that their accomplices have been arrested, they begged pardon at Gurdwara Hemkund Sahib for the crime," Sidhu said. They got married in February.

The gang of alleged robbers was led by Mandeep Kaur, whose husband and cousin were also blamed for the heist.

She in connivance with her friend and CMS employee Manjinder Singh Mani, had planned the robbery. They along with their eight accomplices looted Rs 8.49 crore from the office of the CMS firm, in the early hours of June 10.

Sidhu blamed the company for negligence in the safety of the cash.

He said Rs 50 lakh was recovered from the house of Mani in Abuwal village. He had hidden the cash in a septic tank after wrapping the bundles in a polythene bag.

On Friday, the police launched the operation "Let's Cage the Queen Bee" to arrest the main mastermind Mandeep Kaur and her husband.

vg/pgh