Vellore

The arrested include the bank’s gold appraiser Nityanandam (58) and his friends Arjunan (51), Ganapathy (48), Babu (48), Tharabai (38) and Venketesan (41). Police are on the lookout for two more persons in this connection. The fraud came to light when the bank reviewed gold loans issued between January 2020 and January 2021 when it was found that Rs 70.28 lakh was siphoned off through 15 accounts in which bogus jewellery were pledged. Bank officials complained to Vellore SP S Selvakumar who ordered a probe. Based on it the culprits were arrested while further investigations are continuing.