Cop uses influence, duplicate key to steal cash, gold from malkhana

Inside job exposed A look at how a cop looted Delhi Police’s vault. The head constable exploited his position to steal ₹80 lakh in cash and two boxes of gold from a malkhana – twice.

- Jignasa Sinha

NEW DELHI: In a serious internal security breach, a head constable with the Delhi Police was arrested on Sunday for allegedly stealing ₹80 lakh in cash and two boxes of gold from the malkhana of the Special Cell's anti-terror unit at Lodhi Road — a facility that stores evidence from major terror, arms, and money laundering cases.

The accused, head constable Khurshid, had been second in command at the malkhana and allegedly struck twice within the past 45 days. Emboldened by how easily he was able to execute his first theft, he returned for a second round on Saturday.

Police said he used his seniority in the malkhana management team and managed to get a duplicate key made and used his knowledge of the malkhana's operations to avoid detection.

Investigators now suspect he may have stolen more than twice during his 18-month tenure and are conducting a full audit of the evidence storage unit.

His luck ran out on Saturday only because he left the storeroom door open, alerting staff who arrived in the morning.