Bengaluru: Bank employee arrested for unauthorised mortgage of customers' gold worth Rs 3.5 crore
Bengaluru (PTI): A deputy manager of a bank was arrested for allegedly misappropriating and unauthorisedly mortgaging 2,780 grams of gold ornaments belonging to multiple customers, worth over Rs 3.5 crore, police said on Saturday.
The alleged fraud came to light after the bank’s chief manager filed a complaint against the accused at the Girinagar police station on February 5.
Citing the complaint, police said the accused allegedly removed 2,780 grams of customers’ gold ornaments from bank lockers without informing higher authorities and pledged them with a finance company.
During the investigation, officials found prima facie evidence suggesting that the accused had spent the proceeds on online betting, police said.
"The accused deputy bank manager has been arrested in this case. We are trying to recover the gold. So far, about 700 grams have been recovered," said Lokesh B Jagalasar, Deputy Commissioner of Police (South).
"We are not getting the desired cooperation from the financiers. We will move the court and initiate appropriate legal action against them. Further investigation is underway," he added.
Police also advised customers to verify the safety and status of their ornaments kept in bank lockers.
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Odisha hospital fire toll rises to 12 as 2 more succumb to burn injuries
Bhubaneswar/Cuttack (Odisha) (PTI): The toll in the devastating fire at government-run SCB Medical College and Hospital here climbed to 12 after two more patients succumbed to their burn injuries on Tuesday.
Health and Family Welfare Minister Mukesh Mahaling informed the assembly that a total of 12 people died in the fire incident that took place at the trauma care ICU of the hospital early on Monday.
Terming it a "very sad accident", the minister said, "As soon as the fire broke out, the hospital staffers worked on a war footing to immediately shift 23 patients from the first floor ICU and adjacent wards of the trauma care centre. All of them were shifted to other ICUs and wards."
Seven patients of the trauma care centre died due to their critical condition while five other critically ill patients died while undergoing treatment in other wards and ICUs.
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Eleven medical staffers engaged in the rescue of the patients were also injured in the fire. The injured staff members are undergoing treatment and their lives are out of danger, he said.
Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi and Leader of the Opposition in the state assembly, Naveen Patnaik, visited the hospital on Monday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had also taken stock of the situation.
The state government has constituted a judicial panel to probe the incident, and also formed a fact-finding team headed by Development Commissioner D K Singh that visited the hospital. The team will submit a report to the chief secretary.
The blaze had erupted around 2.48 am on the first floor and is suspected to have been triggered by an electrical short circuit.
SCB Medical College and Hospital is the state's premier health facility, with nearly 2,700 beds and it serves thousands daily.
