Chilli powder, gun used to rob ₹19 lakh from cash van in Delhi

In yet another crime that showed the vulnerability of cash vans, two men on a motorcycle robbed ₹19 lakh after shooting at the custodian of the money in outer Delhi’s Rohini on Friday afternoon.

Naveen, 31, got into a scuffle with one of the robbers to save the cash bag.

He is admitted to a private hospital with a bullet to his cheek. Police said it was too early to say if Naveen would survive.

Rishi Pal, DCP (Rohini), said six police teams have been formed to crack the case. They are scanning CCTV footage.

The cash van was attached to Securevalue, a company providing cash management services, said the DCP.

On Friday, there were four men — a driver, a gunman and two custodians — in the cash van as they went about replenishing several ATMs in the city.

“In the morning, the four staffers had replenished around 18-20 ATMs in the outer and northern parts of the city before they ran out of the cash. They were then instructed to collect more cash from their office in Karol Bagh,” said the DCP.

Around half-a-dozen more ATMs were subsequently replenished before the cash van headed to a Union Bank of India ATM in Rohini Sector-24 around 2 pm. The van was parked on the roadside and the two cash van workers walked out with the bag when the robbers struck.

Wearing helmets, the two men rode their motorcycle close to the cash van before one of them got off and threw chilli powder in the eyes of the gunman, Brijesh Singh, who was sitting in the van.

He then rushed towards Naveen who was about to step into the ATM and tried to snatch the bag from him. Naveen held on tightly to the bag after which a mini tug-of-war ensued between the two.