Chennai: As the great train robbery of August 9 remains an unsolved challenge to the police, the CB-CID sleuths on Saturday ran the parcel van, from which the thieves had lifted Rs 5.75 crore by cutting open a large hole in the roof and slipping in, on the same line from Tambaram to Egmore and captured video visuals.
A senior officer explained that the new footage would be checked to see whether the roof hole was visible in the visuals or if the camera at the Tambaram failed to record the cut-open top from its elevated angle.
“We know that there is a hole on the roof top. If the camera records the hole, then one can conclude with fair degree of safety that the robbery took place only after the train had passed Tambaram early hours of August 9 and the heist need not have happened only in the yard at Chetpet. If the camera does not record the hole, that could only mean that the camera angle is not appropriate and this fact must be applied also to the video visuals of August 9”, the officer said.
The re-run on Saturday was timed to coincide with the schedule of the Salem Express recorded on August 9 from Tambaram. That train had, along with the usual coaches, a goods wagon in which over Rs 342 crore worth soiled notes collected the RBI from various banks was kept for view.
Railway Protection Force (RPF) and Government Railway Police (GRP) were also present during the exercise which was conducted by the CBCID sleuths.
The investigation teams in Salem are probing the role of the freight handlers in the railways.
The escort party members were also being subjected to interrogations. The loco-pilot and his assistant on duty on that train when it reached Egmore and the loco-who that moved the train to Chetpet yard, were among those being quizzed.
