Gold coins worth ₹84 lakh stolen from Powai shipping firm
Powai police registered a case for gold coins worth ₹84 lakh missing from a shipping firm's locker. Investigation suggests insider involvement.
Mumbai: The Powai police have registered a case against unknown person/s after gold coins worth ₹84 lakh were allegedly missing from the locker of the office of a shipping recruitment firm. The incident came to light on August 9 when one of the office employees checked the safe and found gold coins were missing from the locker.
A complainant was registered by Rahul D, 49, who works as director general manager in a shipping recruitment firm in Powai. His company recruits and manages ship crews according to the requirements of various shipping-related companies worldwide. A UK-based entity controls the firm’s operations.
Every year, the company orders gold coins to distribute as rewards like 2, 5, 8, 10, 12, 15 and 20 gram gold coins to employees who completed 5, 10, 15 and 20 years of service. There is a separate department of 12 employees, who look after this specific work.
After distributing the coins, if any of the gold coins remain, they are kept inside a locker in a wooden cupboard with coins from the current year.
The employees searched everywhere in the office but, did not find the gold coins. While checking records, the police found that one of the employees had been absent from work since July 22 on sick leave. They interrogated the employee, but it appeared that someone from inside had stolen the gold coins, said a police officer. “We have registered a case under section 306 (theft) of the BNS and the investigation is underway,” said Powai police’s senior police inspector Jitendra Sonawane.