3 Employees Arrested for Theft of Rs 21 Cr Gold from Mumbai Finance Firm

Mumbai: Three employees of a financial services company were arrested for allegedly misappropriating 29 kilograms of gold kept in bank lockers.

They used the misappropriated gold to secure loans for stock market investments. The trio was arrested by the Property Cell of the Mumbai Crime Branch.

The fraud of the accused identified as Shivkumar Ayer, 30, Shivaji Patil, 29, and Sachin Salunkhe, 41 was revealed during an audit in April 2024.

Ayer, who served as the manager of Rover Finance’s Dombivali branch, and Patil, the area head, allegedly removed 260 packets of gold ornaments belonging to various customers from the bank locker between January and April.

They used the gold to get loans from a private bank. The money received as loan was invested by them in the share market through Salunkhe, a bullion trader.

The audit revealed the missing gold. An internal inquiry found that Ayer and Patil had access to the locker.

Investigators verified Ayer’s bank statements, tracing the transactions and his investments in the share market. All three suspects were arrested on Tuesday. They were remanded to police custody until 6 August by a Mumbai court.