When 4 kg of gold worth ₹3 crore vanished from the State Bank of India (SBI) branch in Mumbai, one of its workers committed a robbery. According to authorities, the Mulund West Personal Banking branch of SBI had provided gold loans totaling ₹1.94 crore, or around 65% of the value of the mortgaged gold ornaments.
Manoj Maruti Mhaske, a 33-year-old service manager who is the primary accused, stole approximately 4 kg of gold jewelry valued at approximately ₹3 crore from the bank's safe. Mhaske, the accused, is a native of Nanded in Marathwada and resides in Raheja Township in Malad East.
The jewelry was kept in a bank locker that required two keys to open. "A police officer was quoted by HT as saying that when a customer approaches them for a gold loan, they check the gold for authenticity and store it in lockers before giving a loan equal to 65 percent of the mortgaged gold's value," the police officer said in reference to Kumar's accusation.
"The lockers have two keys, and they can only be opened by inserting both of them. One key is kept with the branch's service manager, Sweta Sohani, and the other is with her." the officer said.
Additionally, the police officer disclosed that, in accordance with standard procedure, each customer's gold is held in a sealed envelope in the lockers in front of the customer and other officials.
After Amit Kumar, an administrator at the SBI Personal Banking branch in Mulund, located at Runwal Greens in Nahur, filed a complaint, authorities began looking into the event.
According to the investigating police officer, Mhaske was on leave on February 27 when the theft was discovered. According to the officer, Kumar took care of the locker on February 27 when Mhaske was away and even recorded it in the Core Banking System (CBS). When Kumar went to place cash and jewelry in the locker in the evening, at approximately five o'clock, he discovered that numerous gold jewelry packets were gone."
As a result, when Amit Kumar examined the records, he saw that the branch had granted 63 gold loans, but there were still only four gold packets in the locker.
Mhaske had taken the 59 missing packets of gold for his own use, Kumar was told when he contacted to enquire about them. Mhaske promised him he would return the gold within the next seven days, but he claimed to have mortgaged and even sold it.
Four kg of gold total - worth around ₹3 crore at market value—were reported missing in the complaint. Under section 409 of the Indian Penal Code (criminal breach of trust by a public officer or banker, etc.), the principal suspect was taken into custody by the Bhandup police on Friday, March 1.
Farid Shaikh, 48, was taken into custody by the police on Saturday due to his involvement in the case. The second accused is a Pydhonie saree store owner who lives in Antop-Hill. Shaikh helped Mhaske with his gold jewelry sales. Mhaske provided Shaikh one kilogram of gold, which he retained as a collateral loan for a jewelry store.
Shaikh and Mhaske were both presented before a city court, and their remand in police custody was extended until March 7.
