Biggest heist in Delhi: Cash van driver makes off with Rs 22.5 cr

In perhaps the biggest heist in the National Capital involving cash vans, the driver of a van drove away with Rs 22.5 crore on Thursday while the security guard answered the nature’s call.

The theft happened around 6 pm in South-east Delhi’s Okhla area. The Axis Bank cash van was going from its Vikaspuri branch to its currency chest located in Okhla to deposit the money, the  police said.

The van only had gunman Vinay Patel and driver Pradeep Shukla on board.
On the way, the guard asked the driver to stop for a few minutes so that he could relieve himself. Pradeep stopped the van briefly and told Vinay that he would return to the same spot after taking a U-turn, allowing the gunman time to relieve himself.

“Instead of returning to the place, the driver fled from the spot with the van,” a police officer investigating the case said.

The gunman informed the police and the search for the van began. After some time, police found the van parked near a petrol pump in Govindpuri,  few kilometers away from the spot. The driver was missing. The cash boxes in the van had been emptied out.

The van was hired by the Axis Bank’s Vikaspuri branch, and Rs 22.5 crore were reportedly missing from it, the police said. Senior police officers arrived at the spot. Six police teams have been dispatched in several places to trace the money and trace  the van driver.

A case of theft under Section 378 of the IPC has been registered at Okhla police station.
Sources said this was perhaps the biggest theft from of a bank van in Delhi.

In 2012, Rs 5.6 crore were looted from an HDFC Bank’s cash van in South Delhi’s Defence Colony with the guard shot dead.