The Ashok Nagar police have arrested an employee of a cash management firm in Adugodi who, with the help of two friends, allegedly stole ₹1.93 crore slotted for ATMs in the city in the first week of February.
The main accused, Shankar, 38, had joined the firm around eight months ago. He was assigned the task of filling cash in ATMs along with a colleague.
According to police, Shankar and his friends, Avinash, 29, a native of Chikkamagalur, and Basavaraj, 36, a resident of BTM Layout, planned to steal the cash in stages. Avinash and Basavaraj are not employees of the company.
“Shankar started siphoning off money meant for ATMs by hoodwinking his colleague. He accumulated a total of ₹1.93 crore in three instances,” said a police officer. He handed over the cash to his friends who stashed it for him.
The theft came to light when the firm conducted a month-end audit. They conducted an internal inquiry and traced the problem to Shankar and his colleague. A senior executive of the company, Narendra Singh Gurung, filed a complaint with the police accusing the two men of duping the firm, but the investigation revealed that the colleague was innocent.
“The three accused had dreamt of becoming rich overnight. We are in the process of recovering the cash from them” the officer added.