Hours after cash to the tune of ₹22 lakh was reportedly stolen from a bank, police cracked the case by arresting the cashier, who had staged a drama. Police also recovered the cash he had kept hidden in a room inside the bank.
The cash was reportedly found stolen from the chest of Central Bank of India located on the campus of Christian Medical College (CMC) at 12 a.m. on Wednesday. The iron bar of a ventilator in the bank was found damaged.
Police launched investigation and through CCTV footages, confirmed that nobody had taken the cash outside the bank.
“We found fingerprints and also a footprint inside this room. It matched with Nagaraj (28), one of the cashiers. On interrogation, he confessed to committing the offence,” M. Arivazhagan, Inspector of Vellore North Police Station, said.
Nagaraj, a resident of Ajaneya Nagar in Royapuram, had joined the branch as single window operator 10 months ago.
“The regular cashier was not well and was on leave. So, for the last one week, Nagaraj was working as cashier in the night shift (8 p.m. to 12 a.m.) at the bank. Cashiers at various counters at CMC used to remit cash at the bank,” he said.
The cashier on the previous shift had collected ₹24 lakh, of which ₹22 lakh was in ₹500 and ₹2,000 notes and the remaining was in ₹100 and lower denominations, he said. After his shift came to a close at 12 a.m. on Wednesday, Nagaraj had kept ₹65 lakh that was collected during his shift in the chest.
He stole ₹22 lakh and hid it on top of a cupboard in another room of the bank. He went on to complain that he found ₹22 lakh missing from the chest when he went to keep the cash collected.
Police said he also damaged the iron bar of the ventilator to stage a drama that the cash was stolen from the bank.
Police found the cash bundled in newspaper. There were nine stacks of ₹2,000 notes (₹18 lakh) and eight stacks of ₹500 notes (₹ four lakh), he added.
