Rs 4-cr heist at Muthoot Finance foiled in nick of time

Rs 4 crore worth of gold jewellery and cash was saved in the nick of time from heisters who tried to break a locker at a gold finance firm in East Bengaluru at the weekend.

It was the burglary alarm that alerted Jayachandran S, regional room manager of Muthoot Finance, a gold loan non-banking financial company, to the heist attempt in the early hours of August 22. The alarm indicated that someone was trying to break open the locker of the strongroom at the company's Banaswadi Main Road branch.

Without wasting time, Jayachandran called the police and the emergency services department. He also rushed to the branch with the firm's vigilance team.

The police and the vigilance team reached there around 3.10 pm and were shocked to see the shutter half-open. They also heard noise from the inside. It sounded like someone was hitting the locker with an iron rod. Police quickly ran in and caught two men red-handed cutting the locker with an axle blade. The safe contained Rs 4 crore in cash and gold jewellery.

The heisters turned out to be two Nepalese security guards working at apartments in East Bengaluru. Police gave their names as Rohan, 22, and Agari, 28.

The suspects often visited the branch to send money home. Muthoot Finance facilitates money transfer to Nepal. They saw people borrow money by pledging gold and decided to steal it, police said.

It was their first attempt and they were helped by the fact that the firm's security guard didn't report for duty that night, police added.