Taxi driver flees with Rs 97 lakh cash belonging to retired SP, arrested after crashing into tree

CHITRADURGA: The Challakere police have arrested a taxi driver who had made away with Rs 97 lakh in cash belonging to a retired police superintendent. The accused was identified as Ramesh, a resident of Hindupur in Andhra Pradesh.

The retired SP and his wife had stopped for food at a restaurant.

Retired CBI SP Guruprasad and his his wife Lalitha, who are residents of Bengaluru, had sold some agricultural land in Ballari and were returning to Bengaluru. When they stopped at Challakere for meals, Ramesh finished early and drove away with the cash which was in the car, towards Andhra Pradesh.

The taxi can be seen leaving the hotel before the couple got out of the restaurant.

Upon learning that the police were chasing him, Ramesh started speeding and crashed into a tree. The Challakere police caught up with him, recovered the cash and arrested him. The taxi has been seized and a case registered, Chitradurga SP Ranjit Bandaru said.

The cash was recovered from the house of the accused’s grandmother in Pavagada.

“The incident occurred on August 25 and acting on Guruprasad’s complaint, we formed three teams. The accused was arrested on the morning of August 26 near Pavagada. The cash was seized from his grandmother’s house in Pavagada”, the SP added.