Bank employee in Ahmedabad steals Rs 8 crore, buys properties; arrested
PTC News Desk: An employee of a public sector bank has been arrested in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, for allegedly siphoning off Rs 8.7 crore from an RBI currency chest and investing the stolen money in property and cryptocurrency, police said on Sunday.
The accused, identified as Harsiddh Kadiyar, worked as a junior custodian with Bank of Baroda. Acting on a tip-off, police traced and arrested him from Ahmedabad’s Sola area on Friday, Assistant Commissioner of Police Hitendra Chaudhary said. The alleged theft took place on January 13.
Kadiyar has been sent to police custody until May 27. According to officials, he was posted as a junior joint custodian at the Bank of Baroda’s Gandhi Road branch in the Kalupur area, where an RBI currency chest is located.
Police said Kadiyar, along with two contract workers, allegedly smuggled the cash out of the bank while pretending to dispose of old iron boxes. Investigators claim the boxes actually contained currency notes worth Rs 8.7 crore. To avoid raising suspicion, Kadiyar reportedly continued attending work until April 20, believing the CCTV footage of the incident would be erased automatically after 90 days. He later stopped reporting to work and went on extended sick leave.
The matter surfaced during a routine audit ahead of an RBI inspection after a newly appointed currency chest in-charge discovered the missing cash. Following this, an FIR was lodged at Kalupur police station on May 15.
Police recovered Rs 2.2 crore in cash from the trunk of a car parked near the location where Kadiyar was arrested. During questioning, he allegedly admitted to using part of the stolen funds to buy a house in Chandkheda, a commercial vehicle, and a shop in Ahmedabad. He also reportedly gave Rs 23 lakh to a female colleague to help purchase a house and handed her another Rs 5 lakh in cash.
During interrogation, Kadiyar confessed to using part of the stolen money to purchase a house in Chandkheda, a commercial vehicle, and a shop in Ahmedabad. He also allegedly gave Rs 23 lakh to a female colleague for purchasing a house and handed over an additional Rs 5 lakh in cash to her, police said. The accused also began trading in cryptocurrency markets and invested a portion of the stolen money there, they said.
- With inputs from agencies
