IT Correspondent
Pune, Jan 24:
An assistant manager of HDFC Bank of its Apte Road branch and her relative was arrested on charges of stealing mortgaged gold ornaments worth Rs 40.63 lakh from the locker of a customer on Saturday.
The arrested bank employee has been identified as Kiran Dhotre (24) residing at Model Colony and her relative as Deepak Dhawale (25). They have been remanded to police custody till 27 January by the judicial magistrate (first class), Pune.
The accused allegedly committed the crime between 08 January-11 January 2021. They were arrested by the Deccan police, based on the complaint lodged by HDFC Bank Gold Loan Area Operation mortgage department manager Atul Ghaware (44), a resident of Laxminagar at Parvati.
Based on his complaint, a FIR was registered against Kiran Dhotre and her brother-in-law Deepak Dhawale at the Deccan police station. They have been booked under section 381 (theft by clerk or servant or property in possession of master) and 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servant or banker, merchant or agent) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
According to police, a customer had taken a gold loan from the bank and had kept his gold ornaments as a mortgage against the loan. These ornaments were kept in the secure locker. Kiran was working as the assistant manager and was responsible for the locker section in the bank. She stole the ornaments from the locker on 08 January, but her act was captured in the CCTV cameras installed inside the bank.
Hence the bank officials lodged a complaint at Deccan police station and Assistant Police Inspector Shilpa Lambe and Police Sub-Inspector Shinde began investigation in the matter.
Kiran was apprehended by police and upon interrogation she revealed that the stolen ornaments were handed over to her relative Deepak Dhawale. Further investigation revealed that Dhawale and Kiran had already sold off some of the ornaments. Police managed to recover gold ornaments weighing 770 gram and Rs 8 lakh cash from the possession of the duo. API Lambe is probing the case under the guidance of Senior Police Inspector Murlidhar Karpe.
