In the second such incident reported in the city in less than a month, the driver of a van carrying cash to ATMs hijacked the vehicle with Rs. 20 lakh, from Challaghatta on HAL Airport Road on Saturday evening.
The GPS-installed van was found abandoned about 3 km away at Yamalur on Saturday night and the trunk with the cash was found intact at Bellandur on Sunday.
The van belonged to Secure Value, a cash logistics company. The police said that the driver, Ceaban Hussain Mazumder (26) from Assam, had been hired only last month. He had no previous criminal records in Bengaluru.
The cash logistics vehicle was parked outside the State Bank of Mysore ATM in Chalaghatta around 5.15 p.m. on Saturday. The gun man along with another staff were filling cash in the ATM. “Seizing the opportunity, Hussain drove away the vehicle. After driving for about 5 km, he abandoned it at Yamalur,” the police said.
Hussain took an autorickshaw from there and asked the driver to take him to Bellandur Circle. He told the driver that he did not have change for Rs. 2,000. He fled the spot claiming that he would bring change soon. But, when Hussain did not turn up after a long time, the driver informed the traffic police. The police seized the trunk.
The van was found on Saturday night.The driver is suspected to have carried the trunk, with Rs. 20 lakh in it, for around 3 km. The fear might have got the better of him and he might have abandoned the cash box too, the police said. “We are trying to secure him,” the officer added.
Previous incident
On November 23, Dominic Selvaraj, employed with Logicash, another cash logistics firm that manages cash transits, zipped away in a van carrying Rs. 1.37 crore in cash in Rs. 2,000 and Rs. 100 notes on the busy K.G. Road. He managed to escape when his colleagues entered a Bank of India branch to collect cash. He abandoned the vehicle at Vasanth Nagar. On November 29, a day after his wife Evelyn Mary Roy surrendered, Dominic was arrested by the police.
