Chelembra bank robbery
Encyclopedia
The Chelambra bank robbery in the Malappuram
district of Kerala
, India
is considered to be one of the biggest and most sensational bank robberies
in the crime history of Kerala. In the early hours of 30 December 2007, the robbers made a hole in the floor of the South Malabar Gramin Bank
and got away with 80 kilograms of gold
and 2,500,000 rupees, a total value of 80 million Indian Rupees.
that was up for rent
. The four-member gang rented the restaurant by giving an advance payment of about Rs. 50,000. They shut down the front door and placed a board saying that it was under renovation
and would reopen on 8 January 2008. To make things more convincing, they even bought new furniture
for the restaurant and much construction material for the site.
Those who were watching the scene would have thought that repairs were going on. But they were cracking the first floor open, where the strong room was kept. They cracked it and made a big enough hole in the ceiling to the strong room. All the money they took was from some iron safes in the strong room which they cut open using a gas cutting machine. They took away gold
and cash
kept inside the safe.
quickly formed a number of special teams. A special team led by Malappuram
Superintendent of Police P. Vijayan and Deputy Superintendent K K Ibrahim conducted the investigation under the supervision of K.S.Jangpangi the Additional Director General of Kerala Police. The team consisted of Circle Inspectors of Police Vikraman and M.P Mohanachandran, SI Anvar Hussain and other officers from the subordinate ranks . It was a challenging task for Kerala Police to begin investigation as there was no evidence and no leads available for them to proceed with. Like many other bank robberies, it was done at the wee hours of a Sunday, since it is a holiday and it had come to light only on the next day.
However, police made a computer graphic sketch image of the main culprit as illustrated by eyewitnesses and neighbors.
It is to be noted that the criminals tried to create an impression of Naxalite
involvement in the robbery by quoting a sentence Jai Mao (praising naxalism) at the scene of the crime to deviate enquiry.
There were many attempts by the culprits to divert the whole attention of the investigation team to Hyderabad. According to police officials, the criminals had purposely left one kilogram of looted gold in a hotel room in Hyderabad and made telephone calls from many different cities of India to mislead the investigation.
The police team also monitored all telephone calls in the closest mobile signal towers
at the location of the crime during the midnight hours of the incident. It was a big task monitoring more than two million calls. The help of various mobile service providers and IT
professionals was also enlisted for the probe.
And finally, it was the identification of a secret phone number used by the main suspects to communicate between themselves, that became the turning point in the investigation.
where the accused were hiding and arrested four people including Joseph alias Jaison alias Babu, the kingpin of the operation along with three others including a woman and recovered 80% of the stolen gold and money. It is the first recovery in the crime history of Kerala of so much stolen property. The police further said that the remaining items would be traced within days as the accused have already confessed their location. The official arrest
was formally announced on 28 February 2008 by K S Jangpangi, the additional director general of Kerala police.
It is widely considered to be a credit to Kerala police that they solved the biggest robbery in the state within a short period and with the first recovery of so much stolen property.
movie Dhoom
. In the movie also, the robbers made a hole in the ground floor of the bank and got away with the valuables during the new-year event.
Malappuram
Malappuram is a municipality in the South Indian state of Kerala, spread over an area of 33.61 km2. It serves as the administrative headquarters of Malappuram district. As per the 2011 census Malappuram urban agglomeration is the fourth largest UA in kerala with a total population of...
district of Kerala
Kerala
or Keralam is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was created on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions....
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
is considered to be one of the biggest and most sensational bank robberies
Bank robbery
Bank robbery is the crime of stealing from a bank during opening hours. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Uniform Crime Reporting Program, robbery is "the taking or attempting to take anything of value from the care, custody, or control of a person or persons by force or threat of...
in the crime history of Kerala. In the early hours of 30 December 2007, the robbers made a hole in the floor of the South Malabar Gramin Bank
South Malabar Gramin Bank
South Malabar Gramin Bank is the largest Regional Rural Bank in India. It was established in 1976 as a Scheduled Commercial Bank as per Regional Rural Banks Act of 1976 which is headquartered at Malappuram in kerala.Its area of operation is limited to 6 districts in Kerala, India...
and got away with 80 kilograms of gold
Gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
and 2,500,000 rupees, a total value of 80 million Indian Rupees.
Robbery
The bank was in the second floor of a building. The ground floor had a restaurantRestaurant
A restaurant is an establishment which prepares and serves food and drink to customers in return for money. Meals are generally served and eaten on premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services...
that was up for rent
Renting
Renting is an agreement where a payment is made for the temporary use of a good, service or property owned by another. A gross lease is when the tenant pays a flat rental amount and the landlord pays for all property charges regularly incurred by the ownership from landowners...
. The four-member gang rented the restaurant by giving an advance payment of about Rs. 50,000. They shut down the front door and placed a board saying that it was under renovation
Renovation
Renovation is the process of improving a structure. Two prominent types of renovations are commercial and residential.-Process:The process of a renovation, however complex, can usually be broken down into several processes...
and would reopen on 8 January 2008. To make things more convincing, they even bought new furniture
Furniture
Furniture is the mass noun for the movable objects intended to support various human activities such as seating and sleeping in beds, to hold objects at a convenient height for work using horizontal surfaces above the ground, or to store things...
for the restaurant and much construction material for the site.
Those who were watching the scene would have thought that repairs were going on. But they were cracking the first floor open, where the strong room was kept. They cracked it and made a big enough hole in the ceiling to the strong room. All the money they took was from some iron safes in the strong room which they cut open using a gas cutting machine. They took away gold
Gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
and cash
Cash
In common language cash refers to money in the physical form of currency, such as banknotes and coins.In bookkeeping and finance, cash refers to current assets comprising currency or currency equivalents that can be accessed immediately or near-immediately...
kept inside the safe.
Investigations by Kerala Police
The Kerala PoliceKerala Police
The Kerala State Police is the law enforcement agency for the state of Kerala, India. Kerala Police has its headquarters in Thiruvananthapuram, the state capital. The Police training college was set up by Travancore Maharaja in Thiruvananthapuram in mid 20th centuary. In 2004,a larger Kerala...
quickly formed a number of special teams. A special team led by Malappuram
Malappuram
Malappuram is a municipality in the South Indian state of Kerala, spread over an area of 33.61 km2. It serves as the administrative headquarters of Malappuram district. As per the 2011 census Malappuram urban agglomeration is the fourth largest UA in kerala with a total population of...
Superintendent of Police P. Vijayan and Deputy Superintendent K K Ibrahim conducted the investigation under the supervision of K.S.Jangpangi the Additional Director General of Kerala Police. The team consisted of Circle Inspectors of Police Vikraman and M.P Mohanachandran, SI Anvar Hussain and other officers from the subordinate ranks . It was a challenging task for Kerala Police to begin investigation as there was no evidence and no leads available for them to proceed with. Like many other bank robberies, it was done at the wee hours of a Sunday, since it is a holiday and it had come to light only on the next day.
However, police made a computer graphic sketch image of the main culprit as illustrated by eyewitnesses and neighbors.
It is to be noted that the criminals tried to create an impression of Naxalite
Naxalite
The word Naxal, Naxalite or Naksalvadi is a generic term used to refer to various militant Communist groups operating in different parts of India under different organizational envelopes...
involvement in the robbery by quoting a sentence Jai Mao (praising naxalism) at the scene of the crime to deviate enquiry.
There were many attempts by the culprits to divert the whole attention of the investigation team to Hyderabad. According to police officials, the criminals had purposely left one kilogram of looted gold in a hotel room in Hyderabad and made telephone calls from many different cities of India to mislead the investigation.
The police team also monitored all telephone calls in the closest mobile signal towers
Cell site
A cell site is a term used to describe a site where antennas and electronic communications equipment are placed, usually on a radio mast, tower or other high place, to create a cell in a cellular network...
at the location of the crime during the midnight hours of the incident. It was a big task monitoring more than two million calls. The help of various mobile service providers and IT
Information technology
Information technology is the acquisition, processing, storage and dissemination of vocal, pictorial, textual and numerical information by a microelectronics-based combination of computing and telecommunications...
professionals was also enlisted for the probe.
And finally, it was the identification of a secret phone number used by the main suspects to communicate between themselves, that became the turning point in the investigation.
Arrests
The police team finally zeroed in on a house in KozhikodeKozhikode
Kozhikode During Classical antiquity and the Middle Ages, Kozhikkode was dubbed the "City of Spices" for its role as the major trading point of eastern spices. Kozhikode was once the capital of an independent kingdom of the same name and later of the erstwhile Malabar District...
where the accused were hiding and arrested four people including Joseph alias Jaison alias Babu, the kingpin of the operation along with three others including a woman and recovered 80% of the stolen gold and money. It is the first recovery in the crime history of Kerala of so much stolen property. The police further said that the remaining items would be traced within days as the accused have already confessed their location. The official arrest
Arrest
An arrest is the act of depriving a person of his or her liberty usually in relation to the purported investigation and prevention of crime and presenting into the criminal justice system or harm to oneself or others...
was formally announced on 28 February 2008 by K S Jangpangi, the additional director general of Kerala police.
It is widely considered to be a credit to Kerala police that they solved the biggest robbery in the state within a short period and with the first recovery of so much stolen property.
Crime inspired by Dhoom
The leader confessed that the crime was inspired by the BollywoodBollywood
Bollywood is the informal term popularly used for the Hindi-language film industry based in Mumbai , Maharashtra, India. The term is often incorrectly used to refer to the whole of Indian cinema; it is only a part of the total Indian film industry, which includes other production centers producing...
movie Dhoom
Dhoom
The title track "Dhoom Dhoom" was released in a remixed version song by the Thai-American singer Tata Young. The song and it's music video featuring Tata Young proved to be a major hit in India during 2004 and 2005. The original song was sung by Sunidhi Chauhan. Other tracks on the soundtrack...
. In the movie also, the robbers made a hole in the ground floor of the bank and got away with the valuables during the new-year event.