Chennai: Office asst, 2 others held for bank heist

Chennai: The Tiruvallur police have arrested an office assistant, a watchman and their friend for stealing 32kg of gold jewellery from Bank of India (BOI) in Tiruvallur, on Monday night. The arrest was made within a day of complaint.

The arrested persons were identified as Viswanathan (35), Jai Ganesh (48) of Sevvaipettai and Gowtham (25) of Thanneer Kulam. Viswanathan was working as an office assistant in the bank, while Jai Ganesh was a watchman in a supermarket, the police said. “Viswanathan and Jai Ganesh had opened the shutter and lockers to steal the gold and handed over to Gowtham for safekeeping,” police added.

Branch manager Sekar was shocked when he came to open the bank on Monday morning after the weekend holiday, as the grill gate was broken and the shutter was opened. Immediately, he alerted the police. The police rushed to the spot and found some lockers opened by duplicate keys and pledged gold jewels were stolen. However, the locker in which Rs 25 lakh cash was kept remained untouched. The bank is located on the first floor of a building on Jawaharlal Nehru Road.

From the beginning of the investigation, the police had suspected the hands of well-acquainted persons as the shutter and lockers were opened using duplicate keys. Meanwhile, CCTV footages also corroborated the police theory and helped them to nab the trio.

Apart from recovering 32kg of gold from the trio, the police also sent them to judicial custody.

The police also said that Viswanathan had managed to make duplicate keys well before a month and waited for the right time.

“Viswanathan and Jai Ganesh had carried out their plot on Sunday night and transported them by their two-wheelers to Gowtham’s place,” the police said.