Rs 10 drink helps catch Daku Haseena, accused of Rs 8.49 cr robbery

Mandeep Kaur, better known as ‘Daku haseena,’ was arrested by the Punjab Police after being identified while consuming a Rs 10 drink. Mandeep Kaur and her husband, Jaswinder Singh were allegedly the ring leaders of a 12-member group responsible for robbing Rs 8.49 crores in Ludhiana on June 10, according to India Today report.

The operation led by Punjab Police to arrest the couple was dubbed ‘cage the queen bee.’  According to a report by PTI, Punjab Police had earlier thought the couple had fled to Nepal, however, received information that they had plans to visit various religious shrines before fleeing the country. This included Haridwar, Kedarnath, and Hemkunt Sahib.

Due to the large crowds that visit the Sikh shrine in Uttarakhand, it would have been nearly impossible for the police to identify the couple who had their faces covered in the crowd. To get past this the police set up free drink services for the pilgrims.

The police were able to identify the couple when they uncovered their faces to consume their drinks. According to media reports, the drink they were consuming was a pack of Fruity, priced at Rs 10.

The police waited till the couple had paid their respects at the shrine before arresting the two accused, stated an India Today report on the case.

The heist
 

What is labelled as Punjab’s “biggest heist,” involved Rs 8.49 crore stolen from CMS Info Systems Ltd, a cash management firm, based in Ludhiana.

The gang was reportedly led by Mandeep Kaur, alias Mona, her husband and cousin. Manjinder Singh Mani was also considered one of the masterminds as Mani was employed with CMS Info Systems Ltd for four years and played a major role in the heist. Mani has also been arrested.

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

Arrests and money recovered

Prior to this, the police had arrested six of the other members -- Manjinder Singh Mani, Mandeep Singh, Harvinder Singh, Paramjit Singh, Harpreet Singh and Narinder Singh - who were part of the robbery and recovered Rs 5 crore of the stolen money. The police used GPS tracking to find the suspects who belonged to Punjab.

Upon her arrest, the police recovered Rs 12 lakh from Mandeep Kaur’s two-wheeler and Rs nine lakh from her husband's house in Barnala.

According to the police the reason for the heist was that Mandeep Kaur wanted to be rich.

Police Commissioner Sidhu told the media, "There seems to be a close proximity between Mandeep Kaur and Manjinder Mani. Kaur was in need of money to go abroad."

In a tweet, Director General of Police Gaurav Yadav said, "Proud of Ludhiana Police & Counter Intelligence unit to solve the CMS Cash Robbery Case after arresting fugitive Mandeep Kaur & her Husband Jaswinder Singh in less than 100 hrs."

"Police teams used a professional & scientific approach to solve the multi-crore robbery," he added.