Police hunt for driver who fled with ₹82.50L cash meant for ATM machines

NRI Coastal Police are on the lookout for the driver who fled away with the vehicle carrying cash meant to be deposited in ATM machines; the accused has been identified as Sandeep Dalvi (35), a resident of Koparkhairane, who was a substitute driver on Wednesday and made away with the vault containing ₹82.50 lakh

The NRI Coastal Police are on the lookout for the driver who fled away with the vehicle carrying cash meant to be deposited in ATM machines.

Senior police inspector, Ravindra Patil, from NRI Coastal Police Station, inspects the vehicle used to carry cash to be uploaded in ATM machines on Thursday. Police are on the lookout for the vehicle driver who fled with ₹82.50L cash meant for ATM machines on Wednesday night. (BACHCHAN KUMAR/HT PHOTO)

The accused has been identified as Sandeep Dalvi (35), a resident of Koparkhairane, who was a substitute driver on Wednesday and made away with the vault containing ₹82.50 lakh.

The incident occurred on Wednesday night when the agency assigned with the job of depositing cash at various ATMs sent its team to deposit ₹2.29Cr in various ATM machines. Srishail Mashal, vault officer with the agency, registered a case with NRI Coastal Police after the incident.

Mashal and Nandkumar Pujari, both vault officers in the agency, were given a jeep by the agency, while Mallinath Balkhede was appointed as the driver and Mahesh Bhaskar as the security guard.

All four usually do the depositing job together as per the instructions. Balkhede, the driver of the vehicle, had gone to his hometown on April 4 and his son Vishwanath Balkhede had substituted him in his place till April 10. Thereafter, new drivers were assigned every day. According to the complaint registered, the drivers and guard were provided by another agency to the agency that deposited cash.

On Wednesday, the agency had provided Dalvi as a substitute driver to deposit cash in various banks in Uran, Jasai, Dhutum, Ulwe and Nerul.

After depositing money in ATMs of various banks at Jasai, Dhutum, Pirkon, Navghar, Charphata Uran, Karanja, Gawhan, the four went to the ATM of Bank of India in front of Bamandongri railway station in Ulwe at around 8.30pm. Mashal and Pujari were depositing cash in the ATM machine while security guard Bhaskar was standing outside the ATM machine. Dalvi, who was sitting in the parked vehicle on the road at the time, fled with the vehicle along with cash.

After the work, when the two vault officers and the security guard stepped out in search of the vehicle, they found it missing. While looking for the vehicle from the GPS location of the vehicle, they came to know that the vehicle was at Parsik Hill Road in CBD Belapur Sector-21. They immediately rushed to the spot in a rickshaw and found the vehicle parked near Apollo Hospital, but noticed that the driver Dalvi had fled with the vault carrying ₹82.50 lakh in cash.

“The vault had just a manual lock that could be easily broken by anyone. We are investigating the case and are looking for the accused,” senior police inspector, Ravindra Patil, from NRI Coastal Police Station said.