Karnataka bank staffer takes loan against 3.6kg of stolen gold, arrested

In the Venky Atluri-directed thriller Lucky Baskhar, a cash-strapped bank employee runs out of luck after his dalliance with a murky investment scheme drags him into the dark realm of money laundering that eventually upends his world.

Now jump cut to reality.

A Catholic Syrian Bank (CSB) employee in Davanagere misappropriated gold pledged as collateral with the bank and then took out loans against that gold. He also pledged counterfeit ornaments with the bank to secure additional loans - before the long arm of law caught up with him.

The link between reel and real? Police said the accused, T P Sanjay, 33, was inspired by protagonist Baskhar Kumar (played by Dulquer Salmaan) in the flick Lucky Baskhar.

Sanjay, the gold loan officer employed with CSB since last Oct, allegedly stole 3.6kg of gold worth Rs 1.8 crore and subsequently pledged it with Federal Bank, Fed Bank and Manappuram Gold Loan Finance in Davanagere to take out gold loans. He had also pledged 2.7kg of counterfeit jewellery with CSB, using the names of his associates and family members, obtaining an additional loan of Rs 1.5 crore, spending most of his ill-gotten gains on online gambling and personal expenses, police said.

Following a complaint filed by the manager of CSB Bank, Davanagere branch, at KTJ Nagar police station, a probe was launched that led to Sanjay's arrest and recovery of the stolen gold.

Superintendent of police Uma Prashanth said Sanjay's role at the bank was to verify jewellery brought by customers as collateral for securing loans. He would also maintain a record of the inventory. Taking advantage of his position, he removed the gold from the bank's vault over time.

"Last month, when bank officials conducted an audit of jewellery loans, they discovered that some of the items pawned by customers were missing. Upon reviewing CCTV footage, bank officials approached KTJ Nagar police station.

Cops soon found out that the gold missing from the bank was pawned elsewhere. It was later seized with court permission, Prashanth said.

The police officer further said Sanjay, a BCA graduate with previous experience of working at a private finance companies' gold loan section, "was lauded by the bank for handling a large volume of jewellery in a short span of time". He also behaved in a manner that did not arouse any suspicion at all, the officer added.