A finance firm employee who laid hands on the company till has ended up serving time in jail.
C. Raja was arrested by city police for stealing Rs.27.19 lakh in cash from a locker at Balamuthazhagu Finance at Konnavayan Salai in Sellur on September 12. The money was recovered from him.
Raja, a small-time cardamom merchant of Theni district who was deep in debt, landed a job with the firm six months ago.
“Along with a few other employees, he lived on the company premises.
Working in the administrative wing, he gained a thorough knowledge of the working of the company and the way money was handled on a day-to-day basis,” Sellur Inspector of Police (Crime), P. Jayakumar said.
Though he was transferred to a subsidiary branch, he continued to stay in the Sellur office.
Raja went on a day’s leave on September 10 but did not return to work the following day.
The company followed the practice of selling off the pledged gold of loan defaulters.
Following a sale, the firm’s manager, Mr. Anbusudar, had stashed the proceeds worth Rs. 27.19 lakh in the company locker on the evening of September 12.
The money was reported missing the following morning.
The needle of suspicion pointed to the other employees of the company, the Inspector said.
However, investigation established that Raja had returned to the office on the night of September 12.
Seeing his colleagues fast asleep, and another engrossed in watching television, he found the keys to the locker and made off with the money.
“Since none of the employees noticed his arrival that night, he was not suspected,” Mr. Jayakumar said.
Raja had planned to repay his debt and buy gold with the money. He had placed an order for around 50 sovereigns of gold with a local jeweller, the police added.
