Chennai: The Great Train Robbery of August 9 appears to have taken place inside the Chetpet railway yard in the three-plus hours that the coach was left parked after it arrived from Salem early that morning.
Investigators probing the first big clue, namely the CCTV footage obtained from the Tambaram railway station showing that the top of the coach had no fracture when it passed that station, are excited over the preliminary report from the Hyderabad forensic laboratory that said the coach roof seemed intact. However, some more scrutiny of the CCTV footage is required before arriving at a final conclusion, according to an officer in the probe team.
The officer said the parcel van, carrying boxes of soiled currency notes worth Rs 340 crore belonging to the various banks in Salem region, was brought into the Chetpet yard at about five in the morning of August 9 (Tuesday) and was left there till 0835 hours when it was taken to Egmore station for offloading of the money. "It is quite possible that the thieves made the hole in the roof and took away the money (about Rs.5.75 crore) during that time when there appears to have been some slackness in security at the yard", the officer said requesting anonymity.
