TIRUPATI: The robbery at the Fincare Small Finance Bank at Srikalahasti in Tirupati was a stagemanaged insider job, police said on Thursday, after arresting the branch manager and seven others she had hired.
The manager, Sravanthi (37), hired the gang to commit the robbery to cover-up the irregularities she had committed, investigators said, adding that she pledged one kg of gold mortgaged by the bank’s customers.
She allegedly used the gold to avail loans from other private financiers. Sravanthi hired the now-arrested men - C Naveen, Sk Sultan Mohammad, D Vijaya Kumar, J Hussain, Jagadesh Kumar Guru Raj, B Anthony Raj and V Arun - to rob the bank so that the discrepancy in gold stock that may be found while auditing would not put her under suspicion.
Three of the arrested men hailed from Srikalahasti, while the remaining accused were from Tamil Nadu, police said. The manager earlier told the police that three masked men had barged into the branch on Masjid Street close to midnight on May 26, gagged her, and took away valuables and cash after holding her and others at knifepoint.
The staff, she said, were closing the pending accounts when the incident occurred. Following the incident, district police chief P Parameswar Reddy formed special teams comprising Srikalahasti One Town CI Anju Yadav, Two Town CI Bhaskar Nayak, Rural CI Krishna Mohan and BN Kandriga CI Vikram. They were led by DSP K Viswanath.
Police have recovered 1,274 grams of gold and 840 grams of fake gold worth at least Rs 1 crore and Rs 3.50 lakh in cash from the accused.
During interrogation, Sravanthi confessed to plotting the robbery to hide the irregularities she had committed. Police have also recovered 23 gold loan envelopes that customers had pledged at the bank from her possession.
Another 37 gold envelopes, bank keys and gloves were recovered from others. The SP said Sravanthi, who has been working as the bank manager for the past five years, was also appointed as the appraiser three years ago.
"Sravanthi began mortgaging original gold ornaments pledged by customers at private finance lending firms to take loans for her personal needs. Meanwhile, she would replace original gold ornaments with duplicate ones in the envelopes at the bank," he explained.
Stating that Sravanthi would hand over the gold to the customers after they repay their loan, the SP said she would not close the loan accounts.“Further, the manager would deposit fake gold ornaments in the customer’s accounts and avail loans. She managed to keep her secret intact during audits.”
After realising that more than half of the loans disbursed by the branch were made by pledging fake ornaments even as the customers had repaid their debts, Sravanthi plotted the robbery and hired men through her friends in Srikalahasti to rob all the fake ornaments to avert trouble during the audit. After the staged robbery, Sravanthi herself made the police complaint.
Meanwhile, the bank issued an official statement on Thursday saying: "The bank has extended full cooperation and support to the authorities as they conducted the investigation. Swift action was taken by the bank and an FIR was filed against the staff concerned, the branch operation manager and transaction officer. The staff in question have been suspended. The bank has a zero-tolerance policy for any misconduct by its staff."
Official replaced pledged gold with fake ones
After realising that more than half of the loans disbursed by the branch were made by pledging fake ornaments even after the customers had repaid their debts, Sravanthi plotted the robbery and hired men through her friends in Srikalahasti to rob all the fake ornaments to avoid trouble during the audit.