The Navi Mumbai police arrested and recovered cash from the driver who fled with the cash van while other employees of the security agency were depositing cash in the Bank of India ATM in Ulwe last week.
The accused driver was arrested from the ST bus depot in Panvel when he was about to flee the city with the stolen cash.
Bipin Kumar Singh, Navi Mumbai Commissioner of Police said that they have recovered Rs 81,41,000 of the total Rs 82,50,000. "The NRI police worked very hard and traced the accused without any clue available. The security agency did not carry out the verification," said Singh, adding that the CMS Securities India Private limited did not follow the SOP while hiring the driver.
"A meeting with bank officials was held and we have asked them to take appropriate steps to ensure the safety of public money. This kind of lackadaisical approach regarding the safety of public money cannot be tolerated," said Singh.
Police said that the arrested driver Sandip Dalvi (36), a resident of Koparkhairane, committed the crime alone. While appreciating the effort of NRI Coastal police for solving the case within 24 hours, the Commissioner of Police said that there was no one else involved in the crime and Dalvi acted alone.
On April 13 evening, around 8.20 pm, Dalvi, the driver of a private security agency fled with Rs 82,50,000 cash with the van from Ulwe while other agency staff were depositing cash in a Bank of India ATM at sector 19.
The driver abandoned the van near Apollo Hospital in Belapur, however, the cash was missing. The next day he was arrested from an ST Bus depot in Panvel when he was trying to flee the city.
Ravindra Patil, a senior police inspector from NRI Coastal police station informed that the regular driver was on leave and so Dalvi got the job on the same day he committed the crime.
He added that the security agency did not have the mobile number and Aadhar number of the new driver. "It was a challenge to trace without any clue," added Patil.
