The Central Crime Branch (CCB) has registered a case against four persons, including a former branch manager and a bank official, for allegedly replacing gold jewellery pledged by customers with imitation ornaments at a Punjab National Bank branch in Kilpauk, causing a loss of ₹3.15 crore.
The case was registered based on a complaint from Ganesh Chandra Banda, manager of the Punjab National Bank branch on Taylors Road, who approached the Chennai police Commissioner’s office.
The incident came to light on April 24 when a customer returned to redeem jewellery pledged at the branch. When bank staff went to retrieve the articles, they found that the bag containing the jewellery was missing from its designated locker and was found below a locker.
The discovery prompted the bank to verify the jewellery pledged by its customers.
Swapped with fake jewellery
During verification, jewellery weighing 2.137 kg belonging to 24 customers was found in the locker. However, examination revealed that the original ornaments had been replaced with imitation jewellery.
The CCB’s preliminary investigation pointed to the involvement of former branch manager Saravana Babu, locker-in-charge Gopika, Durai Babu, and cleaner Purushothaman.
The police suspect that the accused removed the pledged gold and substituted it with fake ornaments.
Efforts are on to recover the missing jewellery. The four suspects are reportedly on the run and efforts are under way to arrest them.
Published – September 16, 2026 12:36 am IST
