Defeated Loan, Karnataka bakery -Owner performs £ 13 Crore Bank Heist, hides gold in jungle: report

April 02, 2025 12:35 AM According to police, the accused planned the crime as revenge after his £ 15 loan application was rejected due to a low Cibil score. A five-month-old bank-heist in the Davane district in Karnataka was resolved with the arrest of six men and the repair of 17 kg of stolen gold worth £ 13. The accused, inspired by Spanish crime series Money Heist, carefully planned and executed the robbery. The accused, inspired by the Spanish crime series Money Heist, carefully planned and executed the robbery. According to a report by Indian Express, the arrested Vijay Kumar (30), Ajay Kumar (28) and Paramanand (30) of Tamil Nadu, and Abhishek (23), Chandru (23) and Manjunath (32) of Karnataka. Vijay, the alleged brain, ran a bakery in the city of Nyamathi, where the Heist took place. According to police, he planned the crime as revenge after his £ 15 loan application was rejected due to a low Cibil score, the report added. A family member’s subsequent loan request was also denied, which asked him to orchestrate the Heist. (Also read: DK Shivakumar pushes for Bharat Ratna recognition for Shivakumara fungal) planning and execution Vijay, fascinated by Money Heist, watched the series several times and studied online videos on Heist techniques. In six months, he recruited a team and acquired essential tools such as a hydraulic cutter and gas cylinders from Shivamogga and Nyamathi. The gang regularly met at a school in Surahonne to finalize their plan. On October 28, 2024, they entered the branch of the State Bank of India (SBI) in Nyamathi through a window, used a gas cutter to break into the lock -in and steal the gold. They removed CCTV cameras, took the Digital Video Recorder (DVR) to eradicate evidence, and even threw chilli powder on their escape route to deceive sniffer dogs. Initially, police suspected an interstate gang due to a similar Heist in Bhadravati. They found a group of Uttar Pradesh, but later excluded them. Investigators have linked the crime to Vijay and his associates to focus on local suspects, and have used technical evidence and connections between Tamil Nadu and Nyamathi. Six police teams spotted the accused for months before being arrested over the past few weeks. Police found that Vijay initially hid the gold in an SUV parked at his home before transferring it to a small locker box and plunged it into a jungle pit in Madurai, Tamil Nadu. Later, he went to fetch and distributed part of the gold and deposited some into bank accounts under his and his family members’ names and sold the rest. With the stolen money, he built a house and bought land, while three accomplices each received £ 1 Lakh. To destroy evidence, the gang of tools, the DVR and a hard drive in a lake near Savalanga city. (Also read: Kannada is gaining space at Bengaluru Airport website in a new inclusivity)