Cops suspect inside job in Manappuram heist

Gold ornaments and cash were burgled from Manappuram Gold Financersquos branch in Bhavani Peth on Tuesday night The loss was pegged at Rs 339 crore However the incident came to light yesterday morning at 1030 am after the staff reached the office and found the ornaments and the cash missing from the safe that was kept inside a small room in the office It was branch manager Vidyadhar Sathe who registered a complaint at Khadak police station According to the police the incident occurred between 730 pm and 8 pm on Tuesday when the security guard had stepped out of the office They further stated that the burglars might have used duplicate keys for opening the room and the safe The Manappuram Gold Finance branch in Bhavani Peth ldquoSix staff members including Sathe and assistant branch manager Sanjay Waghapure left the office at 7 pm after ensuring that the safe and the room were properly locked At 730 pm security guard Nand Kishor Kshirsagar received a call on the office landline The caller instructed him to come to a nearby chowk with the visitor register Kshirsagar immediately followed the instructions and left the office which is located on the second floor of building no 123 next to Todkar Hospital without locking the main shutterrdquo said Sandipan Sawant assistant police inspector Khadak police station ldquoWe suspect that the moment he stepped out of the office the burglarsrsquo might have entered opened the door of the room and the safe using duplicate keys and decamped with 175 kg gold ornaments and Rs 634 lakh in cash While leaving they deactivated the alarm system by cutting its wiresrdquo added Sawant Sawant said that since the alarm system was programmed to ring at any instance of tampering it rang but only after the burglars had made away with the booty Hearing the alarm bell Bhagyashree Mai who resides on the same floor rushed to see what had happened On seeing that the main shutter was open she went inside her house to fetch a lock using which she locked the main shutter ldquoWhen Kshirsagar reached the spot where he was called to he did not find anybody waiting for him He then assumed that somebody might have played a prank on him and went to a nearby tea stall to have tea Around 805 pm he returned to the office and found that the shutter was locked He then approached the neighbour unlocked the shutter and handed over her lock Kshirsagar went inside locked the shutter from inside and went to bedrdquo said Sawant Dnyaneshwar Phadtare deputy commissioner of police Zone I said that there were three CCTV cameras installed in the office out of which one camera is installed in the safe room and other two cameras in the outer rooms Surprisingly the cameras placed in the outer rooms had seized function when the incident occurred While the third camerarsquos footage access is at the main branch of the Manappuram which is in Kerala and they are in the process of securing it ldquoWe are questioning the staff including Kshirsagar as we suspect his role in the burglaryrdquo said Phadtare The police also searched houses of all the employees working at the branch stating that their role cannot be ruled out in the burglary Joint Commissioner of Police Sanjeev Kumar Singhal who visited the spot said that their investigation is on and soon the culprits would be behind bars u00a0 Donrsquot worry Manager Assuring a crowd of 50 that had gathered outside the branch after the news broke mdash mostly those who had taken loans against their gold mdash Manappuramrsquos regional manager Ramdas Bhorate in pic said that the company would take care of the situation Shattered ldquoI came to take out my gold but was shocked to hear that the firm had been burgledrdquo said Rahul Mane who had taken a loan of Rs 20000 against the gold Pushpa Patil in pic a housewife was left speechless after she received the news She had come to repay her loanu00a0