Bank employee in Bangalore arrested for stealing 2.7 kg of gold from clients’ safe deposit boxes

Bangalore police detained an assistant branch manager of Indian Bank in the Girinagar area. According to The Times of India, this is Kiran Kumar E., who is suspected of stealing about 2.7 kg of gold jewelry from clients’ bank safe deposit boxes and then pawning the stolen items with private finance companies.

The damage is preliminarily estimated at around 40 million rupees. Reportedly, 15 clients have been affected. The investigation is considering the possibility that the money received may have been spent on online gambling, which has become much more popular in India in recent years. Evidence of this includes the entry of numerous international brands into the local market and the increasing competition among them. According to data from informational iGaming websites, many online no deposit bonus casino well-known in Australia have become popular among Indian residents. The same goes for brands from the USA and Europe. Even those who had previously never been interested in such activities have started to play. Unfortunately, this has also led to an increase in cases of problem gambling behavior. And the case of Kiran Kumar is just one of many.

How the disappearance became noticeable on February 2

The trigger for the check was an episode on February 2. A woman who had repaid/closed her gold loan came to collect her pledged jewelry and found that some items were missing. In essence, it looked like a break in the chain of custody, when the packet was supposed to be returned to the client in its original contents.

It was this case, according to information from the publication, that triggered the internal control procedure. For banking operations involving pledged valuables, such a signal is considered a critical warning sign, because even a single shortage usually requires an inventory audit of the entire batch in storage, not just one disputed packet.

Inventory audit and the scale of the interference

After the complaint and an initial check, the bank conducted an inventory audit. As the branch’s chief manager, Dilip Kumar, told the publication, 207 packets of pledged gold jewelry that had been stored at the branch for a year were checked.

The inventory audit results cited in the report look like this

• 207 packets were checked as part of the reconciliation
• 24 packets showed signs of tampering
• in 3 packets, the gold was completely missing
• in 21 packets, partial losses of jewelry were recorded

Such a distribution points not to an isolated incident, but to a recurring scenario in which access to valuables was used repeatedly and, judging by the description, quite carefully. Partial removal often makes detection more difficult, especially if a specific packet is not requested by the owner for a long time.

Comment from the branch head and a confession during the check

Dilip Kumar linked the internal inquiry to the identified signs of tampering and the subsequent screening of staff who had access to the vault. The Times of India quotes his words. “After the incident, the bank conducted an inventory check. During the internal investigation, Kumar confessed that he stole gold in small quantities,” the manager said.

According to the branch head, the suspect named the period during which the thefts occurred as from June 2025 to January 2026. This time frame, if confirmed by the investigation, means that the thefts could have gone unnoticed for several months and affected different packets issued at different times.

The investigation’s version, the scheme of actions, and a possible motive

The police, as cited by the publication, describe the alleged mechanism quite straightforwardly. The assistant manager had access to the safe deposit boxes and, taking advantage of this, removed jewelry, after which he pawned it with various private finance companies, receiving money. In this logic, the bank serves as the starting point, and the collateral finance market becomes a channel for quick monetization.

The investigation also claims that the suspect mainly chose safe deposit boxes that had not been used for a long time. This resembles a strategy designed to delay detection, where the client’s lack of regular access to the contents turns into a convenient pause. At the same time, the version about spending on online gambling so far appears to be a plausible motive, not an established fact, since neither transactions nor other confirmations of spending have been publicly presented.

Criminal case, return of part of the gold, and difficulties in cooperation

After the chief manager’s complaint, a case was registered under Section 316 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. In the publication, it is described as the qualification of “criminal breach of trust,” that is, a situation where a person who has obtained lawful access to property uses that access contrary to entrusted authority. Kiran Kumar E. has been named as the accused in the case.

According to the police, about 1.2 kg of gold has been seized so far. At the same time, it is reported that some finance companies are not yet cooperating with the investigation, and law enforcement agencies are taking legal steps. The police also noted that only the manager and the assistant manager had access to the safe deposit boxes, which narrows the pool of people who technically could have carried out such operations.

Separately, the materials provide a police recommendation related to preventing such cases. Law enforcement officers indicate that regularly checking the condition and contents of valuables placed in bank safe deposit boxes helps detect possible discrepancies faster and reduces the time during which the problem remains hidden.