Absconding driver held with Rs 22 lakh cash, vehicle

A man, who was absconding with Rs 24.84 lakh cash and a car belonging to an investment firm where he was working as a driver, has been arrested from suburban Malad, police said today.
Acting on a tip off, police laid a trap and the accused Deepak Thakur (28), a resident of Pimparpada in the same area, was nabbed last night.
Cash worth Rs 22 lakh and a car valued at Rs 10 lakh were seized from him, Juhu police station's senior inspector Rajendra Chavan said.
Thakur had joined Europlus Capital Ltd in suburban Andheri about a month ago, calling himself "Manish Sonar", he said.

Last Tuesday, the firm's manager (operations) Lokesh Kapoor (43) had asked his peon Vaibhav Jore (39) to pick up cash worth Rs 24.85 from a firm in Byculla and bring it to office, police said.
Accordingly, Jore went to the company located at Byculla in an office vehicle driven by Thakur, he said.

While returning, Thakur stopped the vehicle at Juhu's Gulmohar Road, at about 8.30 pm, claiming that the car had developed some technical glitches, the police said.
After checking the engine, Thakur who was in the driver's seat, asked Jore to get down and push the vehicle from behind, in order to help it start.

"He suddenly started the vehicle and drove away. His colleagues' attempts to reach him failed, after which an FIR was registered against him at the Juhu police station," the police said.
During the probe, it emerged that Thakur had given a fake name and residential address, intending to carry out such an offence whenever opportunity stuck.
The police said that it managed to reach his sister and brother. With the help of information gathered from his family members and informers, a trap was laid at Malad and the accused was nabbed yesterday, the police said.
Later, Thakur was produced before a court which remanded him to police custody until May 17, the police said.