Two persons, including the driver, have been arrested for allegedly robbing a cash van in Dwarka on Thursday, the police said on Monday.
Joint Commissioner of Police (Western Range) Shalini Singh said that the accused have been identified as cash van driver Dheeraj Puri (35), and his associate Madan Lal (41).
The police said that a call was received on Thursday saying that a cash van of Securitans Pvt Ltd (SIPL) which deals in transferring cash in ATMs has been robbed and the criminals fled with the cash box. The bank later said that ₹1.52 crore was robbed.
Narender Kumar, the custodian, told the police that he along with another custodian Vikas Chauhan, driver Dheeraj Puri and gunman Vijay Kant Mishra transported the cash from the company and reached a hospital to fill the cash in an ATM. While Narender and Vikas went inside the hospital, Dheeraj and the gunman were in the van. When the two returned, they saw that the van missing.
Another PCR call was received a while later from a hospital that two persons were admitted with injuries. They were found to be Dheeraj and Vijay. When the police reached, they were told that two persons forcibly entered the van, drove off with the vehicle and finally fled with cash near Sector 11.
During investigation, multiple teams worked on the case and found that a similar case was reported by the company last year in Patel Nagar in which two persons were arrested while two remained absconding.
The police received another lead in the case after the CCTV footage showed a suspicious vehicle near the hospital from where the van went missing. It led the police to the owner of the vehicle who further revealed that the car was being used by accused Rajesh alias Madan Lal who was declared a proclaimed offender in the Patel Nagar case. He was arrested on a tip-off and ₹30 lakh was recovered from him, they said.
The police said that the driver was interrogated in detail and it was revealed that he was in contact with the criminals. He confessed to his involvement and was arrested, the police said adding that ₹24.4 lakh was recovered from his possession.
The police said that Dheeraj provided the information to Rajesh and all the accused, who met a fortnight ago, planned the robbery. “They robbed the van and to mislead the police, they inflicted minor injuries on Dheeraj and gunman Vija,” Ms. Singh said.
