Police struggle to trace fingerprints of thieves

Mumbai: The Navi Mumbai police, which is investigating the Rs 3 crore heist at a Bank of Baroda branch in Juinagar last week, is struggling to find any forensic evidence such as fingerprints of the accused.

The thieves had entered the locker room inside the bank after digging up a 25-ft tunnel from an adjacent shop. Though the accused are suspected to have stayed in the locker room for several hours, the police is finding it difficult to trace their fingerprints. Investigators said the accused cleaned up the locker room properly with a piece of cloth in a bid to wipe out their fingerprints as well as footprints.

According to sources, the forensic department officials could not get a single fingerprint of the accused. Sources said that the accused might have used gloves while breaking into the lockers.

Speaking about thieves’ footprints, the sources said, “The accused might have cleaned the floor and the locker room with a wet cloth. Because of which it is really difficult to find evidence about their fingerprints or footprints.”  

The Navi Mumbai police has already identified four persons who were a part of a group that broke into the bank last week. The gang is suspected to be from Jharkhand. The thieves had decamped with the cash and jewellery from 30 lockers. Valuables worth around Rs 3 crore have been lost. Many locker holders are scared and disappointed as the bank could not save their hard earned money, despite giving rent to the bank for security. The locker holders’ don’t have any insurance. The robbery was discovered on Monday morning when the bank reopened after the weekend holiday. According to police, the suspected robbers had rented an office near the bank, and they dug up a tunnel from the shop that opened into the bank’s locker room.