Rs. 2 Crore Cash Loot Case at Yelwal: City Court acquits all 11 accused

Mysuru: The Third Additional District and Sessions Court here today morning acquitted all the 11 accused in the Rs. 2 crore seizure case at Yelwal. The Judge, before delivering his verdict, observed that the complainant had not provided documents pertaining to the cash and why such a huge amount was being transported physically when there was an option of Real-Time Gross Settlement Systems (RTGS), a fund transfer system where money transfer takes place from one bank to another on a “real time” basis and “gross” basis besides observing that the CID had not provided documents to support the complainant’s allegations. Taking all this into consideration, the Judge acquitted all the 11 accused in the case. The investigation was conducted by the CID and the chargesheet, evidence list and mahazar report were submitted to the Court in May 2014 and in all, 11 persons were named in the chargesheet. The accused and their advocates and Public Prosecutor Dharanaiah were present at the Court, when the Judge delivered his verdict. It may be recalled that on Jan. 3, 2014, the Mysuru Police had got information that crores of rupees of hawala money was being transported from Bengaluru to Kerala in a bus named ‘Kalpaka’ (KA-01-AA-2793). The Police immediately planned an operation to intercept the bus and formed a team under the guidance of the then Southern Range IGP K. Ramachandra Rao and Mysuru Rural Dy.SP Srihari Baragur. The team which waited for the bus near Yelwal, searched the bus on its arrival and the Police recovered Rs. 20 lakh cash that was kept in the tool box. An FIR was registered and the bus driver Akhtar Hussain and conductor Munir were taken into custody. After the seizure, the then Mysuru South Rural Inspector Jagadeesh had lodged a complaint at Yelwal Police Station, stating that Rs. 20 lakh was seized from the wooden box under a passenger seat in the back of the bus. But the case received a major twist when Sylalubiddin, a gold merchant from Kozhikode in Kerala had alleged that the Police personnel had pocketed over Rs. 2 crore they had seized from the bus. It also came to light that though there is a Police Station at Yelwal whose head is a Sub-Inspector, the accused Policemen exceeded their jurisdiction as the area falls under South Station headed by a Circle Police Inspector (CPI). The case was later handed over to the CID, which arrested Prakash, the gunman of IGP Ramachandra Rao and six other cops, who were arrested later.