Mumbai Crime: Driver flees with bank’s Rs 17 lakh to pay off debts

The bag also had 2,000 US dollars. Representation pic

Desperate to pay off his debts, a driver associated with the Bank of Bahrain and Kuwait ran away with a bag of cash. The Marine Drive police arrested the man from Bihar and brought him to the city. The cops have recovered Rs 10.7 lakh of the Rs 17 lakh stolen by accused Anil Yadav.

The arrest came 10 days after Jitendra Singh, an assistant manager with the bank, filed a police complaint. Singh said he is part of the bank's doorstep banking initiative and he visits customers, including consulates, for collection and delivery of cash.

"As we provide doorstep banking to our customers, I went out for collection along with the driver, Anil Yadav, on August 18. I had Rs 1,05,000 and withdrew Rs 6 lakh from the bank. I then went to the Saudi consulate and collected Rs 7,85,000 and $2000. I also collected Rs 85,360 from the Bahrain consulate," Singh said in his statement.

Also read: Mumbai Crime: Chain-snatchers on a roll, almost 60 per cent increase in cases

Singh told the police that his bag had Rs 17,35,360 when he left it in his office car and stepped out to collect more cash from the Kuwait consulate. "After collecting cash from the Kuwait consulate, I walked out and saw that the driver was not there and the cash bag was also missing. I called him multiple times, but his number was ‘out of reach'," reads the statement.

After failing to reach Yadav despite repeated attempts, the bank filed a complaint with Marine Drive police. "We worked on it and managed to track his location to Bihar. A team was dispatched and he was arrested," said an officer from the police station. The Metropolitan court remanded Yadav in police custody. He faces charges under Section 381(theft by clerk or servant of property in possession of master) of the Indian Penal Code.

Sources said Yadav used Rs 4 lakh from the stolen amount to pay off his loans taken from two different people. "He was under pressure to clear his debt of Rs 4 lakh, and due to which he planned this theft and fled from Mumbai. We have recovered around R10,79,000 from the accused and learnt that he spent over Rs 6 lakh in 10 days," said the officer.

Rs 10.7 lakh
Amount recovered from the driver