Police to charge banker, techie husband with stealing customers’ pledged gold in Bengaluru

Bengaluru: Police have prepared a detailed charge sheet against an assistant bank manager and her techie husband for allegedly stealing gold ornaments worth Rs 5 crore pledged by customers for loans and replacing them with artificial jewellery.

The theft occurred at Karur Vysya Bank’s Kengeri Satellite Town branch between June 2024 and October 2025. In all, about 4.95 kg of gold was allegedly stolen.

Ashwini, an assistant manager and loan recovery officer at the branch, is accused of removing gold ornaments pledged for loans and replacing them with artificial or lighter ornaments.

According to the charge sheet prepared by the Kengeri police, she misused her official position and unrestricted access to the bank’s gold loan locker to systematically siphon off the pledged jewellery over an extended period.

Police registered an FIR on October 7, 2025, and arrested Ashwini and her husband Ravi, a software engineer employed with a private firm, the following day, said Anitha B Haddannavar, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Southwest).

Modus operandi

Investigations revealed that Ashwini was addicted to online gaming. To raise money for betting, she allegedly began removing pledged gold from the locker and replacing it with duplicate or lesser-weight ornaments to avoid immediate detection.

She allegedly handed over the stolen gold to her husband, who re-pledged it at other banks and private finance companies to raise funds, a senior police officer said, citing the charge sheet, which is expected to be filed in court soon.

The funds obtained through re-pledging were allegedly spent on online trading and gaming in an attempt to make quick profits. However, mounting losses reportedly pushed the couple to steal more gold to cover earlier liabilities, the charge sheet said.

Detection during audit

The theft came to light during a routine audit on October 6, 2025, when an appraiser detected discrepancies in the weight and quantity of gold stored in the locker. Following this, branch manager Mahesh Chintakayala lodged a complaint with the Kengeri police.

As part of the investigation, police searched the couple’s residence in Kengeri and recovered documents related to re-pledging of gold. Bank records, CCTV footage, locker access logs and digital financial transactions were analysed to establish their involvement.

Ashwini is said to have confessed to the crime and admitted that she misused customers’ pledged gold without the knowledge of senior bank officials.

Police have invoked relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) pertaining to criminal breach of trust, cheating, and dishonestly inducing delivery of property or valuable security, the officer said.