Two persons working for a company financing loans in exchange for gold jewellery were arrested by the Nilgiris district police for defrauding depositors and the company. The police are on the lookout for two others in connection with the scam.
The two persons arrested by the police have been identified as S. Nathini, 27, from Bikkatty in Manjoor, and S. Vijayakumar, 29, a computer operator at the company residing in Kundah. Two more persons, identified as Shanthipriya, the manager of the company, and Raju, the gold appraiser are currently absconding.
The four accused are said to have colluded to steal gold kept in 81 packets which had been pledged by depositors in the company. The four had replaced the gold with costume jewellery and had used the gold stolen from 43 of the packets to pledge them against the name of other depositors without their consent by forging documents and signatures.
The remaining 38 packets of gold are said to have been stolen by the four and to have been used for their own personal use, officials said.
Based on a complaint by the area manager of the company, the Nilgiris police registered a case against four of the accused under Sections 34 (collusion to commit criminal acts), 408 (criminal breach of trust), 468 (forgery) and 477(a) (falsification of accounts) of the Indian Penal Code. It has been estimated that the four accused have caused Rs. 98.3 lakhs in losses to the company.
