In a daring daylight heist, a contract driver of a logistics firm fled with Rs 1.37 crore in cash in a van from a busy road in the city centre on Wednesday, giving a slip to the security guard and two bank employees, police said.
Dominic, hired by Logicash, an outsourcing agency, drove away the van with the cash when two other employees had gone to a bank in the heart of the city to collect money at around 1.30 pm, Deputy Commissioner of Police (West) M N Anucheth said.
The incident occurred between 2-3 pm when the accused Domnic, hired by Logicash, drove away with the cash and vanished after the two employees went inside Bank of India’s K.G. Road branch, while the guard got down from the vehicle to attend nature’s call, Deputy Commissioner of Police (West) M N Anucheth said.
"The driver, Dominic, 45, fled in a money van which was carrying Rs 1.37 crore collected from banks," he said.
The cash in the form of Rs 2,000 new notes and Rs 100 notes were part of the amount the logistics firm (Logi-Cash) collected from two other banks in the city earlier in the day.
A team has been formed to apprehend the accused, he said.
“We have formed four teams to trace the driver who appears to have planned well in advance the act and the route he took to disappear. We have some leads from the footage of CCTV cameras in the vicinity and eye-witness account,” noted Anucheth.
On a complaint by the logistics agency, which deposits cash in ATMs or collects it from banks across the city, police registered a first information report (FIR) under section 381 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) at the Upperpet police station in the city’s central business district.
“We hope to crack the case soon as we have alerted all police stations in the city and stepped up patrolling vigil on border check-posts towards Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu,” asserted Anucheth.
