Mastermind of Rs 8.49 cr heist Mandeep Kaur, her husband arrested from Uttarakhand

Chandigarh, June 17 (IANS) Punjab Police on Saturday succeeded in its operation "cage the queen bee" with the arrest of mastermind of Rs 8.49 crore heist Mandeep Kaur, alias Mona, and her husband Jaswinder Singh from Uttarakhand.

Commissioner of Police Mandeep Singh Sidhu confirmed the arrest of the couple. Also the police arrested their accomplice.

Earlier, the police suspected that Mandeep and her husband had fled to Nepal.

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.

It was the dream to strike it rich, a "love angle" between the masterminds and a woman-led gang behind Punjab's "biggest heist" of Rs 8.49 crore in the office of CMS Info Systems Ltd, a cash management firm, based in Ludhiana city last week.

All 10 accused are closely related to each other.

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

Another mastermind Manjinder Singh Mani, an employee with CMS Info Systems Ltd for four years, has been arrested.

Police Commissioner Sidhu said prima facie it seemed that the motive to commit the crime was to get overnight rich. "There seems to be a close proximity between Mandeep Kaur and Manjinder Mani. Kaur was in need of money to go abroad," the Police Commissioner, who displayed bundles of seized currency notes, told the media.

The police used the GPS (Global Positioning System) system in tracking the movements of the suspects, all belonging to Punjab.

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