The Bengaluru police arrested Dominic Roy, the van driver accused of fleeing with a cash van carrying Rs 1.37 crore in cash on November 23, in the wee hours of Tuesday near Tin Factory.
DCP (West), M N Anucheth, told TNM that the police had been watching Dominic’s usual haunts, one of which is a shed near Tin Factory, where he was nabbed early this morning.
“His friend Gerald, who had been informing the police regarding his whereabouts, told the police that Dominic had called him from a coin booth as he wanted to meet his wife and son.
Gerald told Dominic, who was in Salem, to come to Bengaluru. The police were waiting for him at the Tin Factory bus stop and later nabbed him from a shed,” the Upparpet Inspector told TNM.
Dominic is currently being interrogated regarding the details of the heist, the DCP said.
Dominic’s wife, Evelyn Mary Roy, had surrendered to the Banaswadi police on Sunday night with Rs 78 lakh in cash.
“Evelyn Mary had packed all their belongings and had told her son that they would be travelling. No photos or evidence of the family living there has been found as she confessed to cleaning up the house in Lingarajpuram,” DCP Anucheth said.
On November 23, after Dominic had stolen one trunk of money containing Rs 92 lakh from the van, he went to Krishna Flour Mill in Banaswadi and broke open the lock there. He then called his wife, where she and their son met Dominic, the DCP said.
“The trio then hailed an auto to the Shantinagar bus stand and boarded a bus to Vellore. From Vellore, they travelled to Coimbatore, Dominic’s home town and later to Chennai, where Evelyn’s sister lives. They met the sister, who, at the time, did not know about the theft,” he added.
The family then travelled to Thrissur, went back to Coimbatore and then to Vijayawada. On November 27, Dominic dropped off his wife and son at KR Puram and went to Salem, saying he had to take care of a few things. He was nabbed in the early hours of Tuesday morning, DCP Anuchet said.
While Dominic and his family had been on the run, they were spotted in CCTV footage in a few places, but were gone before they could be nabbed. “The trio had boarded a train from Charlgudi in Kerala and had got off at the Coimbatore station, when they were first captured by CCTV camera,” the Inspector said.
“We had informed the Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh police. They were spotted at the Thrissur and Vellore bus terminals as well. Every time, we located him, the trio would have left the spot,” he added.
Dominic has been booked under sections 381 (theft by clerk of employer’s possession) and 120b (punishment for criminal conspiracy), while Evelyn has been booked for abetment in addition to the above-mentioned sections.