New Delhi, Nov 27(AZINS) Delhi Police on Friday arrested the driver who fled with Rs 22.50 crore stashed in a cash replenishment van here and claimed that they solved "the biggest misappropriation ever from a cash van in its history", within 12-hours by recovering the money.

The police arrested the 35-year-old driver identified as Pradeep Shukla from a godown in Okhla Industrial Area which was raided by the police team in the wee hours today. Nine cash boxes, containing "approximately" Rs 22.50 crore have been recovered, said DCP (Southeast) M S Randhawa. After the heist, Shukla, had allegedly taken shelter at a godown of electrical wires in Okhla Industrial Area, A source in Delhi Police said that Shukla had spent around Rs 11,500 from the stolen amount to pay off for some articles purchased in connection with the heist, roasted chicken for dinner and alcohol.

"Shukla knew the caretaker of the godown and asked him for shelter in the night, telling him that he would leave early today. The caretaker was, however, found to have no involvement in the crime," said a senior police official. Four cash replenishment vans had taken off from the Vikaspuri branch of Axis Bank with around Rs 38 crore on Thursday afternoon, of which the van heading south-east (DL-1LK-9189) was carrying around 22.50 crore, said the senior official.

A police source said that the amount was recorded as Rs 10 crore, which is the limit of cash transit suggested by the police in view of security. The discrepancy led to some confusion in the initial phase of the investigation.

According to the police, there were two persons in the van - driver Pradeep Shukla and armed guard Vinay Patel. On their way to Okhla, Patel asked Shukla to stop the van around 3.40 PM for he wanted to relieve himself at the roadside.

Shukla told him that he would wait nearby, but fled. Soon he switched off his mobile phone too. Senior police officials said that the case was cracked on the basis of human inputs and the entire industrial area at Okhla Phase III was searched intensively, leading the team to Shukla, who was hiding at the electrical wire godown.

Shukla has been booked for criminal breach of trust and other relevant sections of IPC, police said. During interrogation, it emerged that Shukla was planning to run away with the cash in the next few hours, police added.

Police said that this could be the biggest cash heist in Delhi after the January 2014 gunpoint robbery of Rs 7.69 crore from a businessman at BRT corridor near Moolchand flyover.