A van carrying several bundles of soiled currency notes worth Rs. 129 crores was involved in a road accident on the outskirts of Kadapa late on Wednesday night.
The van, belonging to VRL Transport Limited, was carrying soiled and torn currency notes with a face value of Rs. 129 crores from four banks — State Bank of India (SBI), State Bank of Hyderabad (SBH), Andhra Bank and Bank of Baroda — at Palamaner, Tirupati, Puttur and Srikalahasti.
The van was part of a convoy of five vehicles proceeding from Tirupati to deposit the cash to the Reserve Bank of India in Hyderabad. It collided with an Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) bus on Rajampet bypass road leading to the instantaneous death of driver Manthesh (32) of Karnataka.
The driver of the Kadapa-Rajampet APSRTC bus Gangulaiah (40) sustained a fracture in his leg while two policemen who were travelling in the van to escort the cargo, Janardhan and Narayana, were also injured.
Police officials, who rushed to the spot, examined the van that was partly entangled in the bus and both drivers trapped in the cabins.
Police extricated the body of the van driver and carefully rescued the injured bus driver after separating the two vehicles. Movement of traffic was disrupted for about two hours.
Police officials, later shifted the currency bundles into other vehicles and allowed them to proceed to their destination around 1 a.m.
Kadapa Traffic circle inspector Ramesh Kumar said a case was registered. There were reports that some passersby walked away with some currency bundles.
