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After ₹39 lakh go missing, cash van driver commits suicide in Chandigarh
It was on his first day as a driver for a security firm that transports cash to ATMs in Chandigarh when a trunk carrying ₹39 lakh went missing from his van
After being questioned in connection with a missing trunk carrying ₹39 lakh, a cash van driver committed suicide by jumping in front of a train on Monday morning.
Aged 44, the victim was a resident of Sector 47. It was on his first day as a driver for a security firm, which transports money to be loaded in ATMs across the tricity, when a trunk went missing from his cash van on October 8.
According to his wife, he along with other employees who were in the van were questioned throughout Friday night before being called back to join investigations the next day.
On Monday morning, around 5, the wife found him missing from their room. The suicide came to light around 7 am when the Government Railway Police (GRP) got the information about a man being run over by a train near a gurdwara in Faidan village.
The body was later identified. No suicide note was found at the spot, and the body was handed over to the family members after postmortem. The GRP have initiated inquest proceedings.
Sources said the family told the GRP that the victim was stressed since the money went missing from his van.
“He was questioned as part of investigations along with other employees attached to the cash van on October 8 itself, when the DDR was lodged,” said superintendent of police (SP, City), Chandigarh, Ketan Bansal.
Police yet to make breakthrough
Bhupinder Singh, who works as a custodian with the security firm based in Sector 47, had lodged a complaint regarding misplacement of a trunk carrying ₹39 lakh from the van.
He told police that on October 8, he along his colleague Manish Chawla, gunman Balbir Singh and the driver had left office with ₹1.9 crore around 10 am. While ₹70 lakh were put in one bag, the remaining ₹39 lakh were in an iron trunk that was already sealed by the company.
On their regular route, they went to load the money in ATMs at Sector 37, followed by Sector 38 and Nayagoan. It was at Nayagaon that Chawla pointed out that the trunk carrying ₹39 lakh was missing.
They informed the company officials and even checked if they had forgotten the truck in the office. The company checked the vehicle’s location through CCTV cameras and GPS, but there was no unusual stoppage or deviation from the route.
As the last location of the vehicle was in Nayagaon, Chandigarh Police after lodging a DDR had intimated the Mohali police. Finally, on October 10, a case was registered under Section 380 (theft in dwelling house, etc) of the Indian Penal Code against unidentified persons at the police station in Sector 31, Chandigarh.
