
Pune Police have arrested a 24-year-old woman employed at HDFC bank on Apte Road in Deccan area of the city, and her brother-in-law, for allegedly committing theft of gold ornaments worth Rs 40.63 lakh.
The primary accused has been identified as Kiran Devidas Dhotre, a resident of Wadarwadi, Model Colony. As per a press release issued by the Pune Police on Friday, Atul Ghavare (44), the gold loan area operation manager at the bank, lodged a First Information Report (FIR) in this case at Deccan police station.
A statement issued by HDFC bank read, “During a regular internal audit, we detected the loss of three gold packets from one of our branches in Pune. We immediately conducted an internal investigation and also filed a police complaint. We are extending complete cooperation to the authorities in their investigation.”
Police said that the theft took place between January 8 and January 11. The woman worked at the gold loan section of the bank and was in possession of the gold ornaments mortgaged by customers. She stole 994.607 grams of gold ornaments from the bank for personal gains, the police release stated.
Following a complaint by bank officials, a team of senior Police Inspector Murlidhar Karpe, Police Inspector Sanjay Mogale, Assistant Police Inspectors Shilpa Lambe and Babasaheb Zarekar and Sub-Inspector Kishor Shinde began investigating the case. The accused woman was arrested and further probe revealed that she had kept the stolen ornaments at her brother-in-law Deepak Dashrath Dhawale’s residence, who had managed to sell some of the ornaments to a jeweller. Both accused were produced before a local court on Friday.
Senior Police Inspector Murlidhar Karpe said, “We have recovered 770 gram of stolen gold ornaments, in addition to cash amounting Rs 8 lakh that the duo got by selling some of the stolen gold ornaments. The court has remanded the two accused to police custody till January 27 for further investigation.”