HDFC Bank employee arrested for stealing Gold Jewellery from Customer’s locker in Chennai
Chennai: The Central Crime Branch (CCB) of the Greater Chennai Police arrested an HDFC Bank employee in connection with a locker theft reported by a non-resident Indian (NRI) customer.
Swaroopa Rani Sivakumar, who lives in the United States, held a locker at the Velachery branch of HDFC Bank and had authorised her mother in Chennai to access the locker. When the family visited HDFC Bank to access locker, they found that gold jewellery weighing 238 grams and cash of Rs 20.6 lakh were missing.
Based on a complaint filed by Swaroopa Rani’s brother, Senthilkumar, the police registered a case on November 12. During the probe, the special team identified the bank’s Grade-II Manager and Locker Vault In-charge as the suspect. The police said the employee had opened the locker without authorisation, removed the jewellery, sold it to a private pawn shop in Velachery for twenty-one lakh rupees, and hid the remaining cash inside the bank premises.
On Wednesday, a special team arrested the accused at the bank premises. He confessed to unauthorisedly accessing the locker, removing the jewellery, and selling it to a pawn broker in Velachery for ₹21 lakh. He also admitted to hiding the remaining cash inside the bank.
The police recovered Rs 20.6 lakh and 188 grams of melted gold.The accused was produced before the XI Metropolitan Magistrate, Saidapet, and remanded in Puzhal Central Prison.
