MANGALURU: Four employees of a cash transportation firm, who were tasked with ferrying `7.5 crore from Yeyyadi branch of Axis Bank in Mangaluru to the bank’s Koramangala branch in Bengaluru on Friday, have gone missing with the money.
The Bolero car in which the money was being ferried was later found abandoned near Hunsur in Mysuru district on Friday.
The four-member team was headed by Parashurama of Hubballi, who is bank custodian, driver Karibasavaiah of Chitradurga, and gunmen Basappa and Poovanna from Kodagu. All work for the cash logistics company Prosegur Holdings.
Police officials suspect the involvement of one more person, Bheemayya, younger brother of Poovanna, who has been missing from his Bengaluru residence since Thursday night. The currency chest had been loaded into the car on Thursday afternoon.
The transportation job was contracted to SISC. On Friday, Axis Bank officials in Bengaluru got alarmed when the vehicle did not turn up at the expected time of 8.30am at the Koramangala branch. They quickly alerted officials at Prosegur Holdings.
After searching for the vehicle on GPS and failing to contact the four employees on phone, Sachin, an official of Prosegur Holdings unit at Konchady in Mangaluru, alerted the police and lodged a complaint.
Mangaluru City Police Commissioner has formed a team headed by Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Shruthi, ACP Valentine D’souza and 14 other officials to track the case.