Gold appraiser arrested for allegedly stealing portions of pledged ornaments in Tiruppur

The Tiruppur District Police on Thursday arrested a man, who was employed as a gold ornament appraiser in a nationalised bank, near Palladam on charges of cheating customers by stealing portions of ornaments pledged in the bank.

According to police sources, B. Sekar (57) had been employed as gold appraiser in the Kethanur branch of the State Bank of India since 2017. Earlier in March, a section of customers alleged that the weight of their pledged jewellery had reduced following recovery from the bank. They claimed that portions of the ornaments such as link chains were missing.

Following this, branch manager Sudha Devi lodged a complaint at the Kamanaickenpalayam police station on Thursday, the sources said. The police booked Sekar under sections 406 (Punishment for criminal breach of trust), 409 (Criminal breach of trust by public servant, or by banker, merchant or agent) and 420 (Cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property) of the Indian Penal Code and subsequently arrested him. Investigations were on to estimate the quantity and cost of the portions of the pledged jewellery that were allegedly stolen by the accused, the sources said.

As the news of his arrest spread, customers from Kethanur and neighbouring villages staged a demonstration outside the bank demanding compensation. Shenbagavalli, a resident of Mandiripalayam village, claimed that portions of three of her ornaments that she had pledged were missing. With most of the customers who had pledged their jewellery in this branch were involved in agriculture, she alleged that no action was initiated by the Revenue Department in the past week despite several complaints in this issue.

Sulur MLA V.P. Kandasamy, tahsildar of Palladam taluk and the police personnel held talks with the protesters. Mr. Kandasamy told mediapersons that he would take this issue to the attention of Chief Minister M.K. Stalin and Finance Minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan during the Budget session in the Legislative Assembly and ensure that adequate compensation was given to those affected.