Second accused arrested in SBI’s ₹3 crore gold theft

Mhaske had allegedly mortgaged around 70% of gold at several non-banking financial company (NBFC) and had taken loans from them while 30% of the stolen gold was kept at jewellery shops, said a police officer

Mumbai: The police on Saturday arrested a 48-year-old man for his alleged role in a case where the bank manager siphoned off 4 kg of gold jewellery worth ₹3 crore from a bank locker in Bhandup. The accused, Farid Shaikh, is an Antop-Hill resident, who runs a saree shop in Pydhonie.

On Friday, the police arrested Manoj Mhaske, 33, service manager of State Bank of India (SBI) for stealing the gold in the bank’s locker. The police said that Mhaske had allegedly through Shaikh sold the gold ornaments to another accused, who is on the run still. (Hindustan Times)

On Friday, the police arrested Manoj Mhaske, 33, service manager of State Bank of India (SBI) for stealing the gold in the bank’s locker. The police said that Mhaske had allegedly through Shaikh sold the gold ornaments to another accused, who is on the run still.

Mhaske allegedly knew Shaikh for almost five years. Two months ago, Mhaske gave a kilogram of gold to Shaikh, which he kept as a mortgage at a jewellery shop. Shaikh allegedly helped Mhaske sell gold ornaments, so his role is clearly shown in the crime, a police officer said.

Both Shaikh and Mhaske were produced in a city court and remanded them in police custody till March 7.

Mhaske had allegedly mortgaged around 70% of gold at several non-banking financial company (NBFC) and had taken loans from them while 30% of the stolen gold was kept at jewellery shops, said a police officer.

“Mhaske allegedly has a habit of playing bets online and we have found his several transactions with many online betting apps. We have been trying to find out about NBFCs and will be sending them notices, so we can seize the stolen booty from them,” added the officer part of the probe.

The case was based on a complaint lodged by Amit Kumar, who works as an administrator with the Mulund Branch of the SBI’s Personal Banking Branch located at Runwal Greens in Nahur.

“According to the complaint given by Kumar, when a customer approaches them for a gold loan, after checking the gold for its authenticity it is kept in the lockers and a loan is given to the extent of 65% of the value of the mortgaged gold. The lockers have two keys and can be opened only by inserting both the keys, one of which remains with the service manager and the other with Sweta Sohani, who works as cash in-charge at the branch,” a police officer said. The police officer added that as a practice, every customer’s gold is kept in a sealed envelope in the lockers in the presence of the customer and the other officials.

“On February 27, as Mhaske was on leave, Kumar looked after the locker and even filed a note in the Core Banking System (CBS) about it. In the evening around 5 pm when Kumar went to deposit cash and jewellery in the locker, he found that several gold jewellery packets were missing. When he properly checked the documents, 63 gold loans had been given by the branch, but he found only 4 packets of gold were in the locker and the remaining 59 were missing,” said the police officer.

Kumar then filed a case in the Bhandup police station under section 409 of the IPC. The police said 4 kg of gold was missing and valued as per market rate around ₹3 crore.