Heist at KMC office: Thieves steal over Rs 1 cr

In a major heist inside the office of the Kohima Municipal Council (KMC), unidentified miscreants broke into several rooms where cash was kept and decamped with approximately over Rs 1 crore in the early hours of Tuesday.
The new KMC complex is located in the heart of the state capital which also houses the office of the Kohima Smart City Development Limited (KSCDL) and both were affected by the theft.
While the actual amount could not be ascertained, highly placed sources speculated that the amount could be much more than Rs.1 crore but did not wish to mention the amount pending an internal audit.
It was largely suspected that the thieves entered the office building after breaking through the main entrance. A large iron chain used to lock the only entrance to the premises was found missing when the chowkidar arrived for duty around 5:30 a.m. on Tuesday. The break-in was subsequently reported to the police around 6 a.m.
Kohima Police then went to the office and cordoned off the entire complex and took note of the crime scene. Later a Special Investigation Team (SIT) was constituted to probe the case.
To complement the probe, a forensic team from the Dimapur-based Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) was roped in to assist with the investigation.
The heist taking place right in the heart of Kohima City exposes glaring lack of security protocol by the KMC. For instance, sources said there was no CCTV installed in the KMC office premises, which was a glaring lapse.
Also it was pointed out that there was no night chowkidar in the office despite huge cash being kept inside. Since there was no chowkidar, the thieves had the luxury of undertaking the heist without fear of being caught.
Furthermore, it was pointed out that as per security regulations, the office cannot keep such a huge amount of cash which should have been deposited in the bank(s).
Sources also informed Nagaland Post that multiple safes and cash storage points of the departments within the building were found broken. These included the main safe in the municipal council section, the strongbox in the cashier’s room where cash was reportedly stored and a separate safe in the KSCDL office. It is believed that a crowbar or similar tool was used to pry open the locks and safes.
The stolen money is said to include funds collected from several municipal revenue sources such as trade licences, import and temporary permits, cesspool services, and other administrative charges.
Sources believe that the way in which the theft was executed indicated that the thieves were familiar with the internal layout of the buildings and where funds were kept. This led to strong suspicions that the heist must have been either an inside job or carried out with help of someone very familiar with the security aspect of the complex.
The thieves moved with precision, systematically targeting all key safes and revenue rooms.
So far there has been no arrest though unconfirmed reports suggested that a few individuals have been detained for questioning.
When contacted, Kohima Police declined to divulge any details, stating that disclosing information at this stage could compromise the ongoing investigation.
Meanwhile, the entire building has been sealed off to prevent any tampering with potential evidence, including latent fingerprints, trace materials, impressions, and possible biometric clues that may have been left behind by the perpetrators.
It may be mentioned that the KMC had previously faced financial constraints, especially in the later part of 2024 when the office could not pay salaries on time. It was reported that employees have to wait for several months for payment owing to delay in revenue generation/ collection. A source familiar with the matter revealed that the stolen cash was revenue collected, to be used for employees’ salaries.