Driver who fled with ATM cash arrested

NAVI MUMBAI: Within 24 hours of a van driver fleeing away with the cash box meant to be deposited in ATMs across Navi Mumbai, the NRI Coastal Police nabbed him from Panvel on Thursday night.

With no phone number of the accused available and no CCTV footage that the police could procure due to the night hours when the crime happened, NRI Coastal police cracked the case with the help of informers and intelligence.

Sandeep Dalvi (35), a resident of Koparkhairane who fled with the van and vault that had ₹82.50 lakh cash, has been arrested. He was so confident about having committed a perfect crime that he had also given a tip of ₹1,000 to an auto driver.

“We had information that he was going towards Panvel railway station from the Panvel ST stand and we caught him from the road connecting both the places. It is quite possible that he was planning to flee to some other place by catching a train from Panvel,” Ravindra Patil, senior police inspector from NRI Coastal Police Station, said.

The accused was presented before the court on Friday and has been remanded to police custody till April 20.

“During his arrest, he was carrying ₹41,800 cash with him which we recovered. On further interrogation, we would find the money that is yet to be recovered,” Patil said.

The accused had spent ₹5,000 on alcohol and ₹1,000 as tip to an auto driver. According to the police, he stayed with his wife and two children at Koparkhairane and used to work as a driver at various places.

He had just joined the agency that provided drivers and security guards to the agency that deposited the cash in ATM machines. Till now, police have found no criminal records of the accused.