CHENNAI: A cash management firm staff was arrested by the city police for allegedly siphoning off Rs 1.5 crore in instalments from the company's cash chest.

The issue came to light after an internal audit in June, after which an in-house enquiry was conducted before the police were informed.

The arrested person was identified as A Prabhu (40) of RA Puram, who was working as a custodian key holder at the private cash management company in T Nagar for the past year.

After reviewing CCTV footage and concluding that Prabhu was behind the siphoning of cash, the office staff detained him when he reported to work on Thursday (Sept. 19) and 'enquired' him. Prabhu initially claimed innocence but confessed after he was shown the CCTV footage.

Police investigations revealed that he used a fake key to gain entry into the cash chest and stole the money.

Police recovered Rs 35 lakh cash from his house, another Rs 85 lakh cash and 60 sovereign gold jewellery from his bank locker.

Prabhu was produced before a magistrate and remanded in judicial custody.

Meanwhile, based on the accused's complaint that he was detained and assaulted by his co-workers, police are conducting enquiries with the staff.