Driver, two aides arrested in Ahmednagar for Rs 4.3 crore cash van robbery

MUMBAI: The cash van driver who allegedly fled with Rs 4.3 crore from Virar last week was arrested from Ahmednagar with one of his accomplices on Tuesday. Rohit Aaru (26) and Chandrakant Gaikwad (41) travelled over 225km on a newly purchased motorcycle, with nearly 1.9 crore of the loot, said the police.
Aaru had to leave behind Rs 2.4 crore in the van as his third accomplice, Akshay Mohite (24), could not arrive with the getaway vehicle on time as he was stuck in traffic, said the police.Mohite was arrested on November 14 and he led the police to Aaru and Gaikwad.

Gaikwad and Mohite are also cash van drivers. The accused claim to have spent around Rs 1.7 lakh of the stolen cash, including Rs 1.4 lakh on the second-hand motorcycle. They had hatched the plan four days before the robbery, said police.
On November 12, Aaru, a Navi Mumbai resident employed with cash logistics company Writer Safeguard Pvt Ltd, allegedly fled with the van when the cash custodians and armed guard were loading money in an ATM at Bolinj,Virar (W). According to the plan, Mohite was to reach Bhiwandi with the getaway car, they would transfer the cash in the car and flee the city. But Mohite got stuck in traffic, DCP Sanjay Patil told TOI.
Fearing that he would be tracked by the GPS in the van, Aaru stuffed Rs 1.9 crore in a bag, locked the vehicle and reached Chembur in an autorickshaw. "The remaining cash was left behind in the van as Aaru knew that it could be opened only with a special set of keys," said Patil.
The next day, the police found the abandoned van at Kalyan naka in Bhiwandi, but they had no idea that some of the money was still inside it. Even as police deployed nakabandis across Vasai-Virar region looking for the suspect in a four-wheeler, Aaru reached Kalyan in an autorickshaw on November 13 morning and bought a second-hand motorcycle. He then contacted Gaikwad and they both left for Ahmednagar.
On November 14, when the firm officials opened the cash van, they found Rs 2.4 crore in denominations of Rs 2,000, Rs 500, Rs 200 and Rs 100 in some of the trunks. Aaru had taken with him Rs 500, Rs 200 and Rs 100 notes, said sources.
By then the police zeroed in on Mohite through Aaru's phone call records and questioned him. He confessed to the crime and spilled the beans on the whereabouts of Aaru and Gaikwad. A police team left for Ahmednagar and arrested them on Tuesday.
The accused, who were booked under IPC Section 381 (theft by clerk or servant of property in possession of master or employer), have been sent to police custody. None of them have a criminal background.