Hyderabad: A major robbery in Nalgonda in which two custodians of a cash management service (CMS) firm were attacked and looted of Rs 32 lakh turned out to be a staged one.

Police found that Srinu and Nagaraju, both employees of Writer Safeguard CMS services, who reported the robbery had planned it and diverted the money. Police closed the case within 24 hours, arrested Nagaraju and his friends Ganesh and Suri, and recovered Rs 35.5 lakh.

Nalgonda police said S. Nagaraju, 26, was working as an ATM operator for Writer Safeguard. He planned to steal the cash and took the help of his friends Ganesh and Giri.

On Monday Nagaraju withdrew Rs 61 lakh from Axis bank in Nalgonda. He gave Rs 18 lakh to his colleagues Suri and Shankar to deposit the amount in different routes, and along with another colleague Sreenu started towards Munugode on his bike to deposit money in ATMs enroute.

“Midway Sreenu loaded Rs 7.5 lakh at two ATMs at Munugode and with the balance Rs 35.5 lakh started towards Gattupally village and as per their plan Ganesh and Suri followed them on bike,” SP N. Prakash Reddy said.

While they were passing through Kompally village Ganesh and Suri intercepted their bike. “They sprinkled chilli powder on Sreenu who was riding pillion and fled with the cash bag containing Rs 35.5 lakh,” the SP added.

The amount was kept at Ganesh’s house in Nalgonda. Based on Nagaraju’s complaint, police registered a case, but suspected his explanation. On further examination police found they had taken a different route than the given route and later Nagaraju admitted the offence.

Police arrested the trio and recovered the cash intact. They were sent to judicial custody after appearance in court.