New Delhi: Delhi Police today arrested the driver who fled with Rs 22.50 crore stashed in a cash replenishment van here and claimed that they solved "the biggest misappropriation ever from a cash van in its history", within 12-hours by recovering the money.
The police arrested the 35-year-old driver identified as Pradeep Shukla from a godown in Okhla Industrial Area which was raided by the police team in the wee hours today. Nine cash boxes, containing "approximately" Rs 22.50 crore have been recovered, said DCP (Southeast) M S Randhawa.
After the heist, Shukla, had allegedly taken shelter at a godown of electrical wires in Okhla Industrial Area,
A source in Delhi Police said that Shukla had spent around Rs 11,500 from the stolen amount to pay off for some articles purchased in connection with the heist, roasted chicken for dinner and alcohol.
"Shukla knew the caretaker of the godown and asked him for shelter in the night, telling him that he would leave early today. The caretaker was, however, found to have no involvement in the crime," said a senior police official.
Four cash replenishment vans had taken off from the Vikaspuri branch of Axis Bank with around Rs 38 crore yesterday afternoon, of which the van heading south-east (DL-1LK-9189) was carrying around 22.50 crore, said the senior official.
A police source said that the amount was recorded as Rs 10 crore, which is the limit of cash transit suggested by the police in view of security. The discrepancy led to some confusion in the initial phase of the investigation.
According to the police, there were two persons in the van - driver Pradeep Shukla and armed guard Vinay Patel. On their way to Okhla, Patel asked Shukla to stop the van around 3.40 PM for he wanted to relieve himself at the roadside.
Shukla told him that he would wait nearby, but fled. Soon he switched off his mobile phone too.
Senior police officials said that the case was cracked on the basis of human inputs and the entire industrial area at Okhla Phase III was searched intensively, leading the team to Shukla, who was hiding at the electrical wire godown.
Shukla has been booked for criminal breach of trust and other relevant sections of IPC, police said.
During interrogation, it emerged that Shukla was planning to run away with the cash in the next few hours, police added.
Police said that this could be the biggest cash heist in Delhi after the January 2014 gunpoint robbery of Rs 7.69 crore from a businessman at BRT corridor near Moolchand flyover.
After Shukla fled with the van, Patel rushed to the nearest branch of Axis Bank there and informed the authorities by 4.30 pm.
They tracked the van by GPS input and found it abandoned close to a petrol pump near Govindpuri metro station, with all the nine cash boxes missing. It was at 5.48 pm that they informed the police.
A special team comprising two sub-divisions, the operations wing and special staff was formed to crack the case and they started with checking records.
Shukla, who is a native of Ballia district in UP, was a new inductee at the security agency.
In the records he claimed that he lived with his wife, a native of Mau district in UP, at a rented accommodation in south Delhi's Kotla Mubarakpur area, but it emerged untrue when a police team was sent there.
Police at both the UP districts were intimated about the case and asked to keep vigil on all movements.
"However, it later turned out that Shukla was living at a rented accommodation at Harkesh Nagar, close to the spot where the van was found and also to the godown from where he was later arrested. However, his wife was also found to have no idea about the incident," said the police source.
Senior officials said that the case was finally cracked on the basis of human inputs and the entire industrial area at Okhla Phase III was searched intensively, leading the team to Shukla, who was hiding at the electrical wire godown.
The police also said that there was "sufficient negligence" on part of the security agency.
An Axis Bank spokesperson said that the cash was being transported by a private security agency on behalf of an independent ATM deployer for cash replenishments.
"The amount is fully insured so neither the bank nor the customer would get affected. Neither the cash van nor the ATM driver belong to Axis Bank," the spokesperson added.
Police said that this could be the biggest cash heist in Delhi after the January 2014 gunpoint robbery of Rs 7.69 crore from a businessman at BRT corridor near Moolchand flyover.
In September 2012, a group of armed men decamped with the cash van of a private bank from a posh south Delhi locality after waylaying the vehicle carrying around Rs five crore and shooting its guard.
Officials, however, maintained that the 2014 heist was a robbery, but yesterday's incident was not.
A similar incident was reported in 2012 in which the driver of a cash van allegedly fled with Rs 52 lakh from near the University campus. He was later arrested.
