Cash heist with hawala link busted, ATM replenisher held

An employee of a cash management firm who had allegedly run away with Rs 1 crore was arrested within five hours. The arrest also helped the police bust a hawala racket whose tentacles were spread to Gujarat.

Madiwala resident Ashok S, in his 30s, worked for Securevalue India Ltd, a cash management services firm. On May 14, the firm tasked Ashok and two other employees, Ramu and K N Srinivas, with withdrawing Rs 4.5 crore from the State Bank of India, St Mark’s Road branch, and replenishing the ATMs of various banks. After withdrawing the money around 11 am, Ashok handed over Rs 3.5 crore to his colleagues and kept the rest with himself. He asked them to replenish the ATMs of SBI, HDFC, Axis, ICICI, Corporation, Canara and other banks and said he would bring the rest of the money himself.

He didn’t return. Taking notice of the matter, Raju A N, a manager at the firm, immediately filed a complaint with Cubbon Park police. Ashok was caught five hours later.

An officer who’s part of the investigation said the cash heist was plotted by a former employee of the firm who was part of a hawala network. Ramu and Srinivas were also part of it. While Ramu was also arrested, Srinivas is absconding.

When police arrested Ashok, they recovered only Rs 65 lakh from him. When grilled, Ashok told the police that he had spent Rs 5 lakh and given the remaining Rs 30 lakh to a hawala operator named Santosh. The entire cash was meant to be sent to Gujarat through the hawala network.

Police tracked down the hawala operator named Santosh and recover Rs 30 lakh from him. “We are trying to trace all the people involved in this hawala network. If the remaining amount (Rs 5 lakh) was sent to Gujarat, it would be impossible for us to go there during the lockdown and recover the money,” the officer told DH.

The firm refused to comment, saying it has submitted all the documents to the police and is cooperating in the investigation.