Police arrests Bank of Baroda Employee for stealing over Rs.8 crore cash from Currency Chest
Police have arrested a Bank of Baroda employee for allegedly stealing Rs.8.70 crore from currency chest. As per reports, he invested the stolen money in property and cryptocurrency.
The incident took place around four months ago in currency chest in Ahmedabad, Gujarat.
According to police, the accused, Harshid Kadiyar, was a junior joint custodian at the Bank of Baroda’s Gandhi Road branch, which also houses the RBI’s currency chest.
On January 13th, the accused, along with two contract laborers, took cash out of the bank in metal boxes. Police recovered ₹2.2 crore in cash from the trunk of the accused’s car.
During interrogation, the accused confessed to using the stolen money to purchase a bungalow in Chandkheda, a commercial vehicle, and a shop in Ahmedabad.
He also gave a female colleague ₹2.3 million (2.3 million rupees) and ₹5 million (5 million rupees) in cash to buy a house.
The investigation also revealed that the accused had invested a portion of the stolen money in the cryptocurrency market.
According to police, the theft was discovered during a routine check conducted before an RBI inspection, when the new currency chest in-charge noticed a shortage of notes.
An FIR was subsequently registered at the Kalupur police station on May 15. CCTV footage then revealed the incident. CCTV footage showed the accused employee and two contract laborers carrying cash in boxes at 9:12 pm on January 13th.
They had loaded the boxes onto a trolley. At that time, he told other employees that the boxes were full of garbage and he was going to have them thrown away. To avoid suspicion, the accused continued to come to work regularly for three months until April 20th.
He believed that the CCTV footage related to the theft would be automatically deleted after 90 days. He later went on extended medical leave. However, the theft was discovered in the meantime. Police then launched a search for the accused.
Police investigated and discovered that the accused had gone to Manali with his family. Before he returned, police seized ₹2.20 crore in cash from a car parked below his house.
The accused was arrested in the Sola area on May 22nd. He has been remanded in police custody until May 27th. The accused stated that he had already spent approximately four crore rupees of the stolen money.
Police have also detained two other individuals involved in the cash transfer, Sultan and Zulfikar, and have begun questioning them.
During police interrogation, the accused stated that he had been working at the bank for 15 years. The accused’s wife is a head constable in the Railway Police. More details will be released soon.
