24-year-old Cash custodian arrested for swindling Rs 52 Lakh
Bengaluru: The Whitefield police arrested a 24-year-old cash custodian, who made away with Rs 52 lakh cash meant to replenish an ATM kiosk in Marathahalli.
The police recovered the cash from the cowshed of the suspect, Paramesh, in his native Somwarpet in Kodagu district.
Paramesh resided in Goraguntepalya and worked as a cash custodian for a private cash management company that had taken a contract to fill up ATMs of banks like ICICI, HDFC, SBI and Karnataka Bank.
At 9 am on March 9, Paramesh took Rs 52 lakh to load the ICICI ATM near the Tulasi Chitra Mandira in Marathahalli. Finding the ATM not in working condition, he took the money to his house in Goraguntepalya and did not report to work that day.
Paramesh told his seniors, who called to check his whereabouts, that he had loaded the ATM and was heading home as he received a call that his mother was unwell. He assured them that he would report to work the next day.
While he returned to work the following afternoon, the company had a call from the ICICI Bank not to replenish the ATM near the Tulasi Chitra Mandira as it was not working. Paramesh’s senior asked him to unload the ATM and bring back the cash.
But the cash custodian vanished without returning phone calls from his office. The staff grew suspicious and checked the ATM machine, which they found empty. They then lodged a complaint with the Marathahalli police.
The police, who formed a team to investigate the case, analysed Paramesh’s call data record and learnt that he was a native of Somwarpet taluk. The police team that reached Somwarpet could not find Paramesh. They could not get any information from his family members either.
They took the help of one of Paramesh’s uncles, a sub-inspector with the Karnataka State Reserved Police (KSRP) in the city, and had him fix a meeting with his nephew in an isolated spot in the pretext of discussing a family issue.
When Paramesh turned up for the meeting, the police arrested him and learnt that he had hidden the cash at his cowshed.