TIRUPATI: Chittoor police arrested appraiser Vigrahala Ramesh Achari in connection with the theft of 18 kg of gold ornaments from the Andhra Bank branch at Mordhanapalle. The theft took place in the bank branch on October 13. Andhra Bank Zonal Manager Murali Krishna, in a complaint lodged with the police on October 14, stated that gold ornaments weighing 18 kg and `2.66 lakh cash were stolen from the bank branch. Yadamari police registered a case under Sections 457 and 380 of IPC. The police suspected the involvement of someone related to the bank in the theft as no one entered the bank premises forcibly. During investigation, Yadamari police came to know that Ramesh made several people known to him pledge fake gold in the bank to obtain loans to the tune of `1 crore. As an appraiser, he had certified that the gold ornaments are genuine. All the stolen gold and cash were recovered from the arrested.
Addressing a media conference in Chittoor on Wednesday, SP S Senthil Kumar said the special teams ruled out possibility of break-in, interrogated the staff working in the bank. They verified their background and narrowed down to Ramesh, who is in financial crisis. “We came to know that the track record of the appraiser is not good,” the SP said.
A vigil was kept on Ramesh and when he went to a shop at Chavadi Street in Chittoor town to sell the stolen gold ornaments in a melted form on Tuesday, he was taken into custody for questioning.
Ramesh, a native of Nellore, settled down in Chittoor and he was working as the bank appraiser since 2015. “He lost huge amounts of money in share market and to overcome the loss, he made persons known to him and having accounts in the bank to apply for gold loans. Ramesh illegally withdrew `1.3 crore over a period of two years by taking withdrawal forms from his friends and relatives. He invested the sum in the share market and lost the amount too. Ramesh then hatched the plan to rob the bank to come out of the red,” the SP said.
In February, while going on leave, the manager handed over the bank keys to Ramesh to hand over them to the in-charge manager who would take his place. “As there are two days time to hand over the keys, Ramesh went to Vellore in Tamil Nadu and got duplicate keys made. After three months, when the cashier kept the master key on the table during lunch time, he took the print of the master key on clay and got duplicate key made. He decided to steal cash and valuables from the vault of the bank using the duplicate key. Simultaneously, he took a small room for rent in Chittoor and procured the equipment to melt the gold,’’ the SP said.
On October 13 (Sunday) when the security guards left the premises at 9 am, Ramesh went to the bank around 1 pm. He entered the bank premises using duplicate keys. He disconnected the CCTV cameras, DVR and UPS to avoid recording of his crime. He opened the locker and stole the gold ornaments, including the fake ones along with `2.66 lakh. He also took the DVR with him. Later, he separated the fake gold weighing 7.5 kg and threw it in a drainage canal in Chittoor.
He also dumped the DVR in the canal. He started melting gold in the rented room. As the process took more time, he tried to sell some melted gold in a shop in Chittoor when he was apprehended, the SP said.
The police recovered the fake gold also from the municipal workers who got it while cleaning the canal and took it with them thinking it was real gold. The genuine gold weighing 11.5 kg was also seized from Ramesh.
A sum of `2.66 lakh and other valuables, including a car and two motorcycles, were also seized from him. The SP said that they would enquire the customers of the bank on whose names the accused pledged fake gold to the bank and withdraw `1.3 crore over a period of two years.Senthil Kumar said that they would also inform the bank authorities on security lapses in the branch.
