This crime was so legendary that it inspired an Akshay Kumar movie, Special 26. The main difference between the two, however, was that there were four burglars in the film while in reality, the Opera House robbery was carried out by just one man, Mohan Singh.
On March 19th, 1987, Arvind Inamdar received an urgent phone call in the police headquarters in Mumbai. This call was about something fishy going on in Opera House, where most of the city’s jewellery stores were located. A CBI raid had taken place at Tribhovandas Bhimji Zhaveri (TBZ), the most famous jeweller of the lot. They would come in, pull down the shutter, ask the staff and the customers to wait while they took a look at their registers. Standard practice. Here’s where it becomes funny. Inamdar was told that they had taken off with a lot of jewellery. Something that’s not common.
Things started getting even stranger when he finally reached the spot with his team. The entire ‘CBI team’ was still there. The only one missing, was their leader – Mohan Singh. It wasn’t even a CBI team, they were just team members who thought they were getting a job! Mohan had met the team members after placing a classified ad in The Times Of India asking for “Dynamic Graduates for Intelligence Officers Post and Security Officers Post”. Applicants were told to come to Taj Intercontinental between 10 am and 5 pm for an interview. Twenty six were finally selected, some of whom were already working in government jobs, looking for a better job. The next day, these twenty six were asked to report at 11 in the morning where Mohan would hand them their fake identity cards. An hour later, Singh got them boarded on a bus and took them for a ‘trial raid’.
They must’ve passed with flying colours because it did look like an actual raid. Singh had then gone around the showcases picking up jewellery as ‘samples’. They were placed in poly bags and stapled with slips showing a government seal.
Now for the exit. Singh told the staff to wait while he checked out another shop in the vicinity. He then got in the bus, went back to the hotel, checked out, and vanished. He left no trail behind. A crime so perfect, you end up respecting the culprit. Mohan Singh, or whatever his name might be, is yet to be caught. Genius.