Hunt on for accused in bank fraud case

Staffer behind ₹2.50-cr worth fraud on the run

The investigation team probing the alleged fraud worth around ₹2.50 crore using gold pledged by account holders at the Aluva branch of a nationalised bank is trying to smoke out the bank employee accused in the case from her hideout by choking her financial lifeline.

Sissmol Joseph, who has been handling the gold loan section at the bank, and husband Sajith have been missing ever since the fraud was unearthed last Saturday, and their house near Karukutty remain locked. She is accused of replacing the gold kept in the locker with useless stuff of equal weight over a period of time.

Untraced

A team led by Vishal Johnson, Inspector of Police, Aluva, and comprising Sub Inspectors M.S. Faizal and Mohammed Basheer, is investigating the case.

“The accused cannot be tracked as yet as their mobile phones remain switched off, and neither are they communicating with their relatives,” said Mr. Johnson.

The police suspect that the fraudulent practice of removing gold from the locker was going on unhindered for a while.

“When an account holder came to take back the gold pledged, the accused sent them back on some premise or the other and then quietly slipped the gold back into the locker in time before their return. This ploy crashed when an account holder came back for the gold when she was away,” the sources said.

Following this, the bank manager alerted the police. The accused has been working at the branch since 2015 and hardly had any complaint against her, the police said.

The couple is suspected to have fled to Bengaluru, though the police have no clear idea about their current whereabouts.