A bank worker has been arrested for allegedly stealing the gold ornaments that were pledged at SBI branch in Belawadi of Arkalgud taluk in the district.
Police have recovered 1.47 kg of gold ornaments, worth Rs 77.93 lakh, from the arrested, said Superintendent of Police Hariram Shankar.
Addressing media persons in the city on Thursday, the SP said that Lava, an outsourced worker, was the arrested. Lava, from Belawadi village, was working as a house-keeping staff in the bank. He gained the confidence of the bank manager and the staff and was also given the responsibility of managing the documents related to gold loans and forms for opening bank accounts.
If a customer came to pledge gold in the bank, cashier Kishore Kumar and staff Suresh checked the purity and weight of the gold ornaments while Lava used to secure the gold in a plastic cover and pack it.
However, cashier Kumar was transferred in May. Hence, the gold packets kept in the bank lockers were inspected on May 5. The officials observed a difference in around 30 gold packets and brought it to the notice of the higher officials.
Assistant General Manager T Anuradha lodged a complaint with Konanur Police Station on June 14. It is alleged that Lava had intentionally replaced the gold ornaments with fake ones and had stolen gold ornaments worth Rs 94 lakh.
A team was constituted under ASP Thammaiah and DySP Muralidhar. The police took the accused into custody from Channapatna Circle on June 17. During the interrogation, Lava confessed to the crime. He has been remanded in judicial custody, Shankar said.
The SP announced a cash prize of Rs 20,000 to the team for cracking the case.