Coins worth Rs 11 crore missing from SBI vaults; CBI begins probe

India

oi-Prakash KL

New
Delhi,
Aug
19:
The
Central
Bureau
of
Investigation
conducted
searches
at
25
locations
in
connection
with
a
case
of
coins
worth
Rs
11
crore
going
missing
from
the
vaults
of
an
SBI
branch
in
Karauli
in
Rajasthan.

The
searches
were
spread
across
Delhi,
Jaipur,
Dausa,
Karauli,
Sawai
Madhopur,
Alwar,
Udaipur
and
Bhilwara
at
the
premises
of
around
15
former
bank
officials
and
others,
officials
informed
PTI.

The
issue
came
to
light
after
the
State
Bank
of
India
(SBI)
branch
decided
to
carry
out
counting
of
money
after
a
preliminary
enquiry
indicated
discrepancy
in
its
cash
reserve
at
Mehandipur
branch
in
Karauli
district
in
August
2021.

Alarmed
bank
officials
had
roped
in
a
Jaipur-based
private
vendor
to
do
counting
of
coins
supposed
to
be
Rs
13
crore
according
to
account
books.

SBI
makes
OTP
compulsory
for
ATM
withdrawals
over
Rs
10K

To
their
shock,
the
vendor
found
only
3,000
bags
carrying
coins
worth
about
Rs
2
crore
coins
while
over
coins
of
Rs
11
crore
were
missing
from
the
branch.

It
is
also
alleged
that
the
employees
of
the
private
vendor
who
were
doing
the
counting
were
threatened
in
the
night
on
August
10,
2021
at
the
guesthouse
where
they
were
staying
and
were
asked
to
refrain
from
the
counting,
the
FIR
has
alleged
SBI
had
approached
the
Rajasthan
High
Court
seeking
a
CBI
probe
into
the
matter
as
the
missing
amount
was
higher
than
Rs
3
crore,
the
threshold
for
seeking
a
probe
by
the
agency.

On
the
high
court’s
directions,
the
CBI
has
taken
over
the
FIR
earlier
registered
by
the
Rajasthan
Police.