Muthoot Finance employees fake robbery, four arrested

Gold jewels weighing 2.6 kg, Rs 10 lakh cash recovered

Four employees of Muthoot Finance, including its assistant manager, were arrested for conspiring to rob gold worth Rs 80 lakh at central Delhi’s Karol Bagh.

They cooked up a story of robbery, but when questioned, they broke down and confessed to the crime.

Amit Advani, 30, Sandeep Khatri, 30, Srijeet Nayar, 29, and Girish Chand, 38, were arrested from their office in Karol Bagh on Thursday, said deputy commissioner of police Alok Kumar.

Kumar said they got a call on Thursday about a bag being snatched by unknown assailants. “When we reached the spot, Girish Chand, an office boy of Muthoot Finance in Karol Bagh, said he along with assistant manager of the company, Srijeet, had gone to Lajpat Nagar to bring some jewellery pieces. At 7.30 pm when they were in front of their office, two armed assailants on a motorcycle robbed a bag from Girish, which contained 3.4 kg of gold jewellery,” said Kumar.

Girish told police that Srijeet had gone to the branch with his bag, and he was alone when the incident happened.

During investigation, police found Girish’s statement unsatisfactory, especially on the point that soon after the incident, instead of raising hue and cry, he called Srijeet over the phone and informed about the incident.

Girish and Srijeet were then grilled, during which Girish confessed that the bag was not snatched. In fact, he along with Srijeet and the other accused had planned to embezzle the jewellery and make a false case of robbery.

They told police that they had gone to Lajpat Nagar to bring 6 kg of gold ornaments to their branch on East Park Road.

The gold items were kept in 58 sealed packets, which were further divided into two bags carried by Srijeet and Girish. Srijeet said that soon after reaching East Park Road, he called Sandeep, who sent Amit to give the bags to Girish, who called police informing of the ‘robbery’.

Sandeep and Amit were later arrested and gold jewellery weighting 2.6 kg and Rs 10 lakh were recovered from them, said Kumar.