Spiriting away 8.85 kg of gold worth ₹2.30 crore pledged in a bank branch in little over a year may sound incredible. But, that is what 34-year-old Sissmol Joseph, who served as an assistant manager at the Aluva branch of a nationalised bank for over three years, is accused of by the police.
She, along with her husband, Sajith, 35, was picked up by the Aluva East Police after more than a month-long hunt from the Kozhikode railway station on December 13. It was a tough task for the police since the accused had gone absconding after switching off their mobile phones ever since the fraud was unearthed on November 17.
Relative contacted
“Then, the accused contacted one of her relatives in Ireland from a different number from Kozhikode on December 11, which we came to know since we were in touch with all their relatives. We then forwarded their photographs and details to the Railway Police and all major WhatsApp groups in Kozhikode city, helping us to pick them up from the Kozhikode railway station,” said M.S. Faisal, sub inspector, Aluva East.
She had allegedly replaced the content of around 128 gold loan packages since October 2017.
According to the confession statement, she had pledged the gold in around 30 nationalised banks and private financial institutions and invested the money in the share business of her husband.
The accused, who were produced in court, were remanded in police custody for seven days. “We will have to take the accused to all these banks and institutions to recover the gold,” said Mr. Faisal.
Exposed last month
The fraudulent practice of removing gold from the locker was going unhindered for a while before it was exposed last month when an account holder turned up to take back the gold pledged when she was away on training.
J. Himendranath, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Kochi City), who also holds the charge of District Police Chief (Rural), had formed a special investigation team under N.R. Jayaraj, Aluva DySP, to crack the case.
The team comprised Inspector of Police Vishal Johnson; sub inspectors Faisal, Muhammed Basheer, Sanketh, and assistant sub inspectors P. Suresh and P.P. Benoy.