NBFC heist: Police say no excess gold found

Weight of sealed covers mistakenly added to gold’s, claim cops
TS Anbu, Additional Commissioner of Police, said NBFC officials confirmed that the stolen jewellery had been recovered | EXPRESS
TS Anbu, Additional Commissioner of Police, said NBFC officials confirmed that the stolen jewellery had been recovered | EXPRESS

CHENNAI: After reports surfaced that more gold had been stolen from Fedbank branch in Arumbakkam than was initially thought, Chennai police on Friday claimed that the total gold recovered so far weighed only 31.68 kg and that the excess weight of 2.1 kg was that of the sealed bank covers that held the jewellery.

With the gold recovered from the house of a police inspector, all the gold stolen from the NBFC branch had been recovered, police said at a presser here. Meanwhile, Inspector Amalraj of Acharapakkam police station was suspended by Deputy Inspector General of Police (Kancheepuram range) M Sathiyapriya.

He was also arrested by Arumbakkam police on charges of concealing information about the stolen jewellery. “Though Amalraj didn’t know about the heist beforehand, he knew that the jewellery was stolen from Fed- Bank and kept it in his house for three days.

Fedbank branch in Arumbakkam
Fedbank branch in Arumbakkam

The wife of Amalraj and the wife of Santhosh, an accused, were relatives,” said TS Anbu, Additional Commissioner of Police, North, Greater Chennai police. Police had initially claimed that they seized 18 kg gold from accused Santhosh and Balaji and 13.7 kg from Murugan, tallying the total weight of the stolen gold. On Thursday, however, after police seized around 6 kg gold from Inspector Amalraj’s house, reports surfaced that more gold had been stolen from the NBFC branch than was projected by police.

On Friday, police clarified that 15.9 kg gold was recovered from Santhosh and Balaji; 9.280 kg from Murugan and Suriyaprakash; and 6.5 kg from Inspector Amalraj’s house, tallying to 31.68 kg. Anbu said the error was due to a miscalculation in weighing gold. “The 18 kg gold initially seized were in sealed covers. The NBFC staff had sealed the covers in front of the customers ...

The sealed covers weighed 2.1 kg. As such, the weight of gold recovered from Santhosh and Balaji was 15.9 kg,” said TS Anbu. This and subsequent recoveries now tallied with total amount of gold stolen, he added. During preliminary investigation, police found that Santhosh, who carried the bigger portion of the stolen jewellery, had visited a relative in Acharapakkam.

He had handed over the jewellery to Amalraj before going into hiding. However, he was caught a day later. On the role of Srivatsan from Coimbatore, police said the accused planned to melt the entire gold. “Srivatsan helped the accused, Senthil, to buy a gold melting machine. After the heist, the accused, who escaped on two-wheelers, later changed to a car and reached a lodge in Chromepet.

When they started melting the gold, the accused realised that they could not melt large quantities of gold, the accused dropped the plan and fled,” Anbu said. Srivatsan was being taken to Coimbatore for enquiry. Police were also searching for another man brought by the accused to operate the gold-melting machine. The officer added that the NBFC officials were with the police and confirmed that the stolen jewellery had been recovered.

Anbu said they were planning to set up a meeting with officials of financing firms and banking sector to improve safety. “Murugan, who was an employee of the firm, knew how to switch off the alarm. It seems there was a server issue during the heist, which caused a delay in the firm’s headquarters getting alerted. We also came to know that a call from the headquarters came to the manager, who was locked in by the accused. We are planning to inform bank officials to contact police as secondary contact if staff are unavailable,” Anbu said.

The accused who went into hiding did not contact any of their relatives, which delayed the arrest, said police. “Usually, the accused would try to contact at least one of their friends or relatives. But here, the accused restrained from doing so and, hence, it took time to catch them, the police officer said.

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