PUDUKOTTAI
About 13.75 kg of gold jewels, valued at ₹4.80 crore, has been reported missing from the Punjab National Bank’s Pudukottai branch on Saturday, a day after a highly decomposed body of a man, suspected to be that of an office assistant of the branch, was found on the seashore at Manamelkudi Kodiakaadu in the district. All the jewellery had been pledged by individuals for raising loans from the bank.
The Office Assistant, S. Marimuthu (42), was reported missing by his wife, M.Rani, since April 29 evening. His car was subsequently found abandoned and burnt at a vacant site near Thiruvarangulam. Although Ms.Rani identified the dress on the dead body as those of her husband, police said only a DNA test could confirm the identity of the highly decomposed body.
As the news of spread, speculations were rife that jewels had gone missing from the bank and several persons, who had pledged their jewels, thronged the bank over the past few days seeking to know the safety of their valuables. However, the bank officials preferred a complaint with the police only on Saturday apparently after an internal verification.
In a complaint preferred with the Pudukottai Town police, Maris Kannan, Senior Manager, PNB, said the jewels kept in 140 packets, as is the usual practice of storing pledged jewels, were missing. They were among the 620 such packets kept at the bank’s safe, police sources said.
The sources indicated that it is likely to be treated as a case of misappropriation.