Rs.22.5 crore cash van heist solved, driver held

Driver Pradeep Shukla who fled with Rs.22.5 crore in a bank's cash van was arrested early Friday, police said. All the money was found, except for Rs.11,000.

According to police, driver Pradeep Shukla and gunman Vinay Patel, both employees with the Security and Intelligence Services (SIS), were tasked to deliver the cash at various ATMs of Axis Bank in Delhi.

"The incident happened on Thursday after the two left the Vikaspuri Axis Bank branch in west Delhi to ATMs in Okhla, which was their next destination to deliver the cash. Midway, the gunman asked the driver to stop as he wanted to attend to nature's call," a police officer said on Thursday night.

After the gunman de-boarded the van, the driver sped away.

The police said Shukla fled from the spot and put all the money in a godown in Okhla area. Then he came back to Govindpuri Metro Station, abandoned the van and went back to the godown in Okhla.

Shukla was sleeping in the godown when the police arrested him.