Rs 22.5-crore heist: Crorepati for a night, driver spent Rs 10,500 on charity, alcohol

He dumped the van near Govindpuri Metro station and stashed the money at a warehouse in Okhla, said police sources. Shukla then hired a tempo, they said, adding that he was planning to take the money and escape with his wife and children.

He then proceeded to give away Rs 2,000 to a homeless person and distributed some of the cash among beggars, said sources.

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Shukla also bought a cold drink and two plastic glasses from a shop near the warehouse.

“He gave me a Rs 100 note and asked me to keep the change. I took only Rs 40 and returned the remaining amount,” said Ajay, the shop owner.

A picture of the van whose driver fled with Rs 22 crore after halting it near Govindpuri metro station; in New Delhi. (Source: Express Photo)

Ram Surat, the caretaker of the warehouse, said that Shukla gave him Rs 3,000 and told him that the boxes contained plastic bags.

“There were nine steel boxes in the van and each had a plastic seal. He asked me to help him unload the boxes but I could not do so, as I am too old. He kept the boxes inside the warehouse and left. He said he would come back soon with a tempo to take away the boxes,” said Ram Surat.

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“At 9.30 pm, he came with a bottle of alcohol and some food and said he would stay here, as the tempo would arrive in the morning,” he added.

Ram Surat said he had helped Shukla get a job with a private company in Okhla, where the latter had worked for one-and a-half years.

Shukla lived with his wife and three children in a one-room apartment in Harkesh Nagar. “They had recently shifted to this room and their tenant verification process was underway,” said Ravi, his landlord’s son.

A woman running a local shop said Pradeep’s wife had recently tried to buy some items and promised to pay her later.

“She wanted to buy the items on credit but I refused. She never came back to my shop,” she said.

According to a neighbour, Pradeep’s wife often seemed to be under stress about her husband’s “low salary”.