SBI cashier’s betting fuelled Rs 12.61 crore gold loan fraud; 44 held in Telangana
ADILABAD: Police have arrested 44 accused, including three SBI employees, and recovered 15.237 kg of gold ornaments and `1.61 lakh cash in connection with a large-scale gold loan fraud in Chennur branch of State Bank of India (SBI), Mancherial district.
Ramagundam Commissioner of Police (CP) Ambar Kishore Jha said that on August 23, SBI regional manager Ritesh Kumar Guptha lodged a complaint at Chennur police station about misappropriation and theft of jewellery mortgaged in 402 gold loan accounts (weighing 25.17 kg and worth Rs 12.61 crore), along with cash of Rs 1.10 crore.
The probe uncovered large-scale irregularities linked to cashier Narige Ravinder. Investigators found suspicious deposits in Ravinder’s account. During interrogation, he confessed that he had lost Rs 40 lakh in online cricket betting prior to October 2024.
To recover the losses and continue betting, he conspired with branch manager Vennapureddy Manohar and outsourcing employee Lakkakula Sandeep to siphon off gold and cash from the bank’s currency chest, which was under the joint custody of the cashier and manager.
Ravinder frequently removed mortgaged gold since October 2024 and handed it to his associates — Kongondi Beeraiah (sales manager, SBFC Mancherial), Kodati Rajashekhar (customer relations manager, SBFC Mancherial) and Bolli Kishan (sales officer, SBFC Mancherial). They pledged the ornaments in private gold lending companies, later transferring the proceeds back to Ravinder after keeping a commission.
The accused mortgaged jewellery in 10 private firms — SBFC, Indel Money, Muthoot Finance, Godavari Urban, Manappuram, Muthoot Fincorp, and Muthoot Mini — availing 142 gold loans in the names of 44 persons. Further, Ravinder, with Manohar’s collusion, sanctioned 42 fake loans in the names of his wife, sister-in-law, and friends without any gold collateral. They fraudulently drew Rs 1.58 crore by projecting 4.14 kg of non-existent gold. The actual missing jewellery was pegged at 21 kg. Ravinder also siphoned off funds during ATM replenishments.
In all, 44 accused, including three SBI staff and 41 others who assisted in pledging gold, were arrested. Police recovered 15.23 kg of jewellery from SBFC, Indel Money, Godavari Urban, Muthoot Mini and IIFL. The remaining ornaments are to be recovered from Muthoot Finance, Manappuram (Mancherial and Market area branches), Muthoot Fincorp, and Muthoot Mini (Chennur). The role of managers at these firms is under verification.
Cases have been registered under Sections 318(4), 316(5), 314, 61(2)(b), 306, 317(2) r/w 49 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), and 65, 66(c), and 66(D) of the IT Act at Chennur police station.