Truck driver flees with ₹25 lakh cargo

A report headlined ‘UK refuses to hand over a rare Nainsukh painting to India’, published on page 21 of the November 18, 2018 edition, was factually incorrect. The UK’S ministry for arts, heritage and tourism hasn’t received any handover claim for the painting from India. The ministry only sought to ban or block the export of the artwork in question. The error is regretted. GURUGRAM: A Gurugram-based transport company owner has filed a complaint with the police, alleging that a truck driver, contracted to transport a container of raw material worth ₹24 lakh, had gone missing with the firm’s truck, said police.

Police said the incident took place on Thursday evening when a container of plastic material was loaded onto a truck-trailer from a logistics firm in Patli, Farrukhnagar, to be delivered to Noida, Uttar Pradesh.

Hari Bhagwan, the complainant, said that he had hired the driver, Shiva Sharma, two months ago through a “reference”.

“The truck was loaded from Patli at 4.30pm on Thursday with directions to deliver the con- tainer to a firm in Noida. I spoke to the driver some time later over the phone and, according to a GPS device, his last location at 2.30 am was Sarita Vihar in New Delhi. He went missing after that. I informed the police after the goods went undelivered the following day,” said Bhagwan, alleging that he suspected that the driver had stolen the truck and the raw material.

Police said they were tracing the truck-trailer, which had a Haryana registration number and procuring footage from closed circuit television cameras (CCTVS) along the highways.

A police official privy to the investigation, requesting anonymity, said that the accused, a native of Etawah in Uttar Pradesh, had switched off his mobile phone and the police had received a lead that the accused had contacted an associate in Palwal.

A case was registered against the accused under section 407 (punishment for criminal breach of trust by carrier) of the Indian Penal Code at Farrukhnagar police station on Saturday, said police.