South African delegate's Rs 3 lakh cash left in cab recovered by Delhi Police before flight

New Delhi: The Delhi Police recovered a South African BRICS delegate's bag containing around Rs 3 lakh in Indian and US currency from a cab within 35 minutes of receiving information about its disappearance, returning it to him just before his scheduled departure, an official said on Monday.

The delegate had visited a mall in Gurugram and returned to a hotel in central Delhi when he realised that his small bag containing the cash was missing, police said.

Information about the missing bag was received at 7.10 pm, following which police immediately formed teams to trace the cab in which the delegate had travelled, Deputy Commissioner of Police (New Delhi) Sachin Sharma said.


A police team reached the hotel around 7.15 pm and obtained details of the delegate's journey and the vehicle before beginning efforts to locate the cab.

The cab was identified and its driver was traced around 7.45 pm. The bag was recovered from under a seat of the vehicle, police said.

The cab driver initially tried to evade the police but subsequently cooperated and the bag was recovered, according to officials.

After verification, the entire cash amount was handed over to him at 8.15 pm, nearly 30 minutes before his scheduled departure for South Africa, they said.

The delegate was in the national capital to attend the BRICS Summit.