Overview
- Ahmedabad police arrested the joint custodian of the Bank of Baroda Kalupur RBI currency chest on suspicion of embezzling Rs 8.70 crore and recovered about Rs 2.20 crore in cash from a parked Ertiga and other seized items.
- Investigators allege the custodian manipulated the e-Kuber currency-chest portal and submitted false chest balance certificates while physically repacking 174 bundles from three boxes into smaller boxes to remove notes unnoticed.
- Two loader/unloader workers have been identified as alleged accomplices who moved and repacked the boxes, and police say CCTV footage and bank checks prompted the probe after discrepancies were found in the vault.
- Preliminary inquiries link some proceeds to purchases of a bungalow, a shop, a small truck, cryptocurrency investments and cash transfers to a coworker, and authorities have registered a formal case and begun forensic accounting.
- Currency chests hold RBI-issued notes for distribution to banks, and the case highlights how combined weaknesses in physical handling and digital record controls can enable insider theft while police continue asset tracing and recoveries.