Chennai: The Tuesday night heist of Rs 26 lakhs from a private cash management services firm’s un-attended MUV was linked towards meeting the marriage expenses of the one of the firm's drivers, who is to get married later this week.
Police said the firm's driver B. Rajesh (24), resident of Sholavaram in neighbouring Tiruvallur, along with his relative G. Lingam (24), of Vyasarpadi, have been arrested and Rs 26 lakhs recovered from them.
A duplicate key sourced by Rajesh was used to drive away the vehicle when it was parked on Post Office Street, Second Line Beach, after tricking the actual driver to leave the vehicle.
Lingam had called the driver over the phone while pretending to be the custodian and ordered the driver to come to the ATM immediately. The custodian and the guard had gone to load around Rs 9 lakhs in an ATM in the crammed street where the MUV could not make it right up to the spot.
At the time of the strike, the vehicle had around Rs 47 lakhs in it. Rajesh and Lingam abandoned the vehicle after taking Rs 26 lakhs but leaving the rest. Rajesh's role surfaced after it emerged that he had contacted the vehicle driver Narayanan to learn his location twice on Tuesday. Rajesh was privy to the details of the route and the routine followed, especially in that stretch.
