Manager stole gold coins to fund son’s studies, repay loan

Vadodara: The general manager of CH Jewellers and his friend were arrested on Monday late night for siphoning off 24-carat gold coins weighing 7,853 grams last year and selling them illegally.
The gold coins have been valued at Rs four crore.
The store’s owner Paresh Soni lodged a complaint of cheating, theft, forgery and criminal conspiracy against general manager Veeral Soni and his friend Taraj Dewanji at Sayajigunj police station when the scam was unearthed last month.
Soni used to present fake credit vouchers at the cash counter and forge the cashier’s signature to siphon off the gold coins. Later, he would delete the invoices from the system as he had access to password of the computer.
The showroom’s cashiers became suspicious as Soni used to present same vouchers with of fake customers with names like Meet Patel, Manav Patel and Marmik Patel. The cashiers informed Paresh who then questioned Soni.
Police said that Soni had admitted to the crime and gave an excuse that he needed money to send his son abroad for further studies and repay home loan, so he used to siphon off coins since 2016.
After siphoning off the coins, he used to sell them through his friend Dewanji and pay him commission for it.
Following Soni’s admission Paresh approached police and the duo was arrested.
Police said that Soni had been working at the showroom since 2011 and seeing his performance and trust, he was made the general manager of the showroom in 2014.