Ulhasnagar gold heist: Manappuram branch lacked night watchman

According to police officers, the incident took place at around 2am on Monday and the branch does not have a security guard during night...

A day after 32 kg of gold jewellery worth Rs 9 crore was stolen from a Manappuram Finance branch in Ulhasnagar, customers have gathered at the office to ask compensation for looted jewellery

The hole that the thieves dug to steal the jewellery on the intervening night of Sunday and Monday. (HT Photo)

“We have started collecting their names and other details to cross check it with our records. This procedure will continue. The company is deciding on how to help the customers recover the gold they have deposited with us,” said Arvind Dinkar, Area manager of Ulhassnagar, branch. The branch has 965 customers.

One of the customers who approached the branch, Vikas Bansode, 25, said “The branch staffs asked me to produce the receipt as a proof of the gold jewellery which I had deposited branch 2 years back. They have asked me to wait for another 15 days. They will either return cash or gold worth the jewellery.”

Meanwhile, the police have sent teams to Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, and Rajasthan to nab the thieves.

“Our teams have been sent to several places and they are constantly in touch with us,” said Surendra Shirsat, Senior Police Inspector, Vitthalwadi police station.

According to police officers, the incident took place at around 2am on Monday and the branch does not have a security guard during night. “The branch has a security guard for daytime while they don’t have a guard during night hours. The society’s watchman is the only one on duty during night hours,” added Shirsat.

According to the police, the thieves broke into the branch at Shankar Krupa palace in Lal chakki, Ulhasnagar, Camp 4 by using a gas cutter. It is suspected that the society’s watchman along with other 3-4 is involved in this theft as the guard had gone missing since after the incident.

“The security guard is appointed by our head office through an agency. We do not have a specific guard to look after the branch during night hours,” informed Dinkar.

The incident came to the limelight after a staff opened the branch office on Monday morning and found all the jewellery missing and a three-foot deep hole on the wall.

During investigation, the police also found that the CCTV camera had been disconnected by the thieves. The footage which was recovered from the CCTV by the police shows two masked men disconnecting the device.