The Crime Branch – Criminal Investigation Department (CB-CID) police solved a case of fraud committed by a pawn broker and recovered three kilograms and 305 grams of gold valued Rs. 76 lakh pledged with a finance company from its regional office on North Masi Street here on Tuesday.
According to CB-CID Deputy Superintendent of Police I. Dayalu Tamil Selvan, a special team led by Inspector G. Srinivasan was entrusted with the task of unravelling the white-collar crime. The complaint was that in 2009 a pawn broker S.P. Raja (30) of Andipatti in Theni district had pledged nearly 10 kg of gold with a Kerala-based pawn broking firm at its Arapalayam branch in Madurai.
A series of malpractice in transactions was exposed during an internal audit. A total of 109 packets of gold jewels weighing 10 kilograms and 698 grams, valued at Rs 1.42 crore, were missing. The company had lodged a complaint with the Karimedu police. Investigation revealed that along with Raja, four staffers in the firm, including a woman, had connived in the crime, as a whopping 10 kg of gold was missing. The police registered cases under IPC Sections 381, 409, 420, 462, read with 120 (b).
As there was not much progress in the case since the Karimedu police recovered 16 grams only, the finance company moved the court seeking a direction for a CB-CID probe.
On January 25, 2012, when the case was handed over to them, discreet probe led to the recovery of three kg of gold which had been reportedly re-pledged by Raja in another firm on North Masi Street and in its branch at Alanganallur. Based on his confession, the CB-CID police realised that he had re-pledged it in as many as 22 fictitious names.
ADGP Narendar Pal Singh, IGP Manjunatha, DIG of Police Sridhar and SP Rajeswari commended the team for cracking the crime and swift recovery of the jewels. The integrity, dedication and commitment of Inspectors of Police G. Srinivasan and R. Ganesh Babu were appreciated by the officers.
