A big gold scam has been reported from Punjab National Bank in Jhunjhunu Rajasthan.
Gold jewellery weighing 4.198 kg is missing from Punjab National Bank’s Nawalgarh branch in Jhunjhunu, Rajasthan.
The discrepancy was noticed during an inspection carried out while handing over charge of the bank’s gold safe to another employee.
Following the discovery, the current branch manager lodged a police complaint against the then branch manager, a banking correspondent, and the deputy manager. Police have begun an investigation into the matter.
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The current bank manager Mukesh Sihag stated that gold pledged against gold loans was stored in the bank’s gold safe. On January 28, the charge of the gold safe was being handed over to Deputy Manager Seema Mahla.
In Banks, an officer is in-charge of the gold safe and is responsible for managing the gold jewellery kept in safe. Normally the gold is stored in cash vault where cash of the branch is stored. The keys of cash vault remain with two employees. Normally one key remains with cashier and another with an officer. Cash vault can be opened with these two keys together and can’t be opened with a single key. If cash vault is opened it means both employees are at fault.
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When a customer approaches Bank for gold loan, the gold is valued by a goldsmith who tells the value of gold at current price. After this, the gold is sealed in a packet and kept in cash vault.
Earlier, the two keys of the strong room were in the custody of the then branch manager Amit Kumar and Deputy Manager Anant Prakash Chaudhary. During the inspection carried out as part of the charge transfer process, tampering was detected in several packets containing gold jewellery kept in the safe. When the bank management started an internal probe, large-scale manipulation of gold was discovered.
Mukesh Sihag stated that original gold jewellery had been removed and replaced with fake items in as many as 73 packets. In addition, jewellery found in three packets was underweight. The bank’s preliminary investigation revealed that around 4.198 kg of gold jewellery, valued at approximately ₹6.50 crore, was missing.
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A case has been registered under multiple serious sections, including fraud, against former branch manager Amit Kumar of Sithal in Udaipurwati, banking correspondent Santosh Kumar Saini of Jhajhar in Nawalgarh, and deputy manager Anant Prakash Chaudhary of Mukundgarh, Nawalgarh.
Recently, a lot of gold scam cases have been reported from banks. Banks need to improve the security system in branches and increase the scrutiny of gold items kept in branches.
