A police patrol party found the sum wrapped in two parcels inside the truck on the Pune-Satara highway late Tuesday night.

The truck, going from Pune to Sivakasi in Tamil Nadu, was stopped by four unidentified men near Kamtahdi village, Deputy Superintendent of Police Vishnupant Munde told IANS.

"When the driver Ram Balasubramaniam and its cleaner alighted from the truck, the men demanded two parcels hidden below the onion bags from them," Munde said.

When the driver and the cleaner feigned ignorance, the men threatened to shoot them and climbed into the truck. They tore apart a tarpaulin sheet covering the onion bags while searching for the parcels.

But then the robbers spotted the patrol team coming in their direction and fled, Munde said.

Police found the money wrapped in the parcels.

Balasubramanium told the police that Himanshu Mehta, a Mumbai businessman, had given him the two parcels to be delivered to a businessman in Sivakasi, said Munde.

Mehta was being interrogated, he said.