The district police has constituted special teams to probe the alleged misappropriation of gold jewels weighing nearly 13.75 kilograms from the Punjab National Bank's Pudukottai branch on a complaint from the bank manager.
Three teams each headed by an Inspector and working under the supervision of the Deputy Superintendent of Police, Pudukottai, were pursuing the probe conducting inquiries with bank officials. Investigators believe that the gold jewels could have been misappropriated steadily for two years now basing their argument from the initial inquiries conducted till now.
The special teams were deprived of the option to examine video footages generated from the surveillance cameras installed at the bank as the hard disk was found in a completely burnt state inside a gutted car belonging to S. Marimuthu - the bank's Office Assistant who is reported missing.
Police sources say the Pudukottai Town Police has registered a case under IPC section 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servant, or by banker, merchant or agent) on a complaint from the bank manager. The bank’s locker and its main door were completely intact and the jewels misappropriated were the ones pledged by individuals for loans, say investigators adding that probe was proceeding in full steam.
Police strongly suspect the hand of the missing Office Assistant Marimuthu behind the alleged misappropriation. Marimuthu, a resident of Pudukottai, has gone missing since April 28 night prompting his wife Rani to lodge a complaint with the Ganesh Nagar police station where a man missing case was registered.
Later, a car was found abandoned in a completely burnt state near Thiruvarangulam near Pudukottai and it was established by the police that the vehicle belonged to Marimuthu. The car contained a completely burnt hard disk in which footages generated from the surveillance cameras installed in the bank had been recorded.
A couple of days ago, a highly decomposed body of a man with a shirt and an undergarment was found along the seashore at Manamelkudi triggering suspicion that it could be that of Marimuthu. Although Marimuthu's wife Rani identified the shirt and the undergarment as that of her husband, police say only after completion of scientific tests could the identity be established.
A senior police officer said the skull of the victim has been preserved for super imposition and the right thigh bone to carry out DNA tests besides preservation of viscera. The Marine Police, Manamelkudi is carrying out first investigation as it had registered a case under section 174 of the Code of Criminal Procedure after the body was found along the seashore. After completion of first investigation, the case would be handed over to the Manamelkudi Police Station for further legal action, said police sources.