In an intriguing find, police discovered Rs 6.75 crore in cash from an autorickshaw that broke down in front of the office of the director-general of police at Lakdikapul here on Wednesday evening. Even more surprisingly, the driver managed to slip away along with his vehicle.
The unidentified driver managed to escape with his broken-down vehicle by pushing it and the police could not catch him or note the vehicle’s number. Sources said that this was because of the intervention of certain “bigwigs”.
The police think that the cash might belong to someone with Karnataka links. The money, comprising Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 notes, was stuffed in three bags carrying slips of the mint at Mysore, Karnataka. The police handed over the cash to the I-T department.
The discovery of cash with an autorickshaw driver began when a cop deployed in front of the state police headquarters questioned the driver when he saw the latter hurriedly shifting bags from his broken down autorickshaw to another threewheeler. Suspicious that the bags might contain something dangerous, he asked the driver to open it.
However, the driver about 25 years old ran away and the police caught the driver of the other autorickshaw, one Balu Nayak of Uppuguda who feigned ignorance.
When informed, Central Zone DCP Tarun Joshi and Saifabad ACP K.V. Ramnarasimha Reddy rushed to the spot and began investigations. “We don’t know to whom the cash belongs. When the guard found the large amount of money he called up the local police. The second driver is in custody and he doesn’t know who the suspect is. The first driver pushed the autorickshaw and managed to flee in the dense traffic. No senior police officer was present at the scene and the men couldn’t stop him or note down the number.”
Police said there is no CCTV camera at the spot.
“The Rs 1,000 notes were printed in RBI mint at Mysore while the Rs 500 notes are old and used. We have handed over the cash to the Income-Tax department,” said Mr Joshi, adding, “We don’t have any information about the cash belonging to an MLA.”
However, Mr Ramnarasimha Reddy said, “When the policeman of the DGP’s office security asked the driver, he said initially that the cash belonged to an MLA. We are verifying this claim. While the focus of the guard was on protecting the cash, the driver escaped. We are hunting for him and we have booked a case under 41D and 102 of Criminal Procedure Code for seizure of unclaimed cash.”
It took around half-an-hour for the Saifabad police to launch a manhunt for the accused, said sources.
The second driver, Balu Nayak, meanwhile, told the police: “He called me and asked whether I could go to Hitec City at Madhapur. I agreed. It happened when I was shifting it. I don’t know who the other driver is.”