Muthoot gold theft may be inside job, say police

After theft of gold ornaments and coins worth Rs 4.56 lakh from a Muthoot Finance branch at Aditya Business Center in Kondhwa was discovered last month, an FIR was finally lodged on Wednesday

Muthoot gold theft may be inside job, say police

After theft of gold ornaments and coins worth Rs 4.56 lakh from a Muthoot Finance branch at Aditya Business Center in Kondhwa was discovered lastu00a0 month, an FIR was finally lodged on Wednesday. Officials of the finance company and the police suspect an inside hand as no outside person can gain access to the vaults at any time of the day.

Muthoot Finance is a leading finance company with headquarters in Chennai and offers personal and business loans on gold jewellery. The loss was discovered on the morning of October 23 by a customer who had come to get gold from his safe in the vault.
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Gold in Muthoot Finance is wrapped in special packaging with a seal, which was reportedly faked by the culprit to make it look real. "Our packaging is known only to customers and our employees. So we suspect an inside hand," said an official requesting anonymity.

The issue was immediately brought to the notice of company officials who then launched a frantic search in various safes and other branches as well. An FIR was finally filed on Wednesday where the police registered a case of theft against unknown persons.u00a0

The police said the theft must have taken place between July and October and are obtaining details of all employees hired by the finance company in the last two years. "We will also interrogate employees who were authorised to access the vaults and get a record of people hired by the company in the last few months," said Assistant Police Inspector SG Thopte.u00a0

Jais Mon, area sales manager for Muthoot, said one of the packets was kept in January this year, and the other was kept in July last year. "We had hired a employee in April and another one in July this year," he said.

Rs 4.56L
Worth of gold ornaments and coins stolen from the vault of Muthoot Finance branch in Kondhwa