As the cash van driver dreamt of a new future with the stolen money, his friend who sheltered him through the night sat next to the money for hours believing the boxes to be full of plastic.
Ever since police raided the godown, its 60-year-old security guard, Ram Saras, is a bitter man. All because his friend Pradeep Shukla betrayed his trust.
He says people in Okhla, where he is employed, now look at him with suspicion.
“They murmur that I was involved. But I was unaware,” he says. Police, meanwhile, have given him a clean chit.
Ram Saras says that even his employer, the owner of the warehouse which stores electric wires, blames him for bringing in “bad reputation”. “But, he wont throw me out as he believes me,” he adds with confidence.
Speaking to The Hindu , an investigator quoted Shukla as saying he would have killed Ram Saras if he got to know about the money. “Shukla knew Saras to be very honest,” the investigator said. An aged Ram Saras counters that he is a former Home Guard who would have overpowered Shukla in no time.
Having known Shukla ever since his son and the accused worked together, Ram Saras knew the driver was indulging in something “immoral”. But, he did not expect it to be of such a scale.
“Shukla arrived with the van and told me he was tasked with moving boxes of high-quality plastic from Delhi to Benaras. He said using a private vehicle, instead of following the company’s directions, would save him Rs 20,000. He wanted to store the boxes until morning and I obliged,” Ram Saras said.
Shukla reportedly unloaded the boxes on his own using jute sacks to dampen the impact of the fall.
The driver later left the godown, leaving the van behind. He returned around 9 p.m. with a bottle of alcohol, dinner and some sacks.
“The bottle was unopened when the police arrived,” says Ram Saras. Much of the food was also left uneaten.
Minutes before the actual raid, a constable had passed by the godown.
This alerted Shukla, who closed the godown gate. Ram Saras, meanwhile, remained unaware. When police did knock around 4 a.m., Ram Saras woke up to open the gate, thinking it must be the water tankers.
“As soon as Shukla saw the police, he put on a jacket and tried to escape,” recounts Ram Saras.
“I was shocked. As he was being led away, I told him he shouldn’t have betrayed my trust,” says Ram Saras, who claims to earn Rs. 5,000 each month.
