The police on Friday (June 13, 2025) nabbed Shibin Lal, a native of Mankavu, who escaped with a cash bag of ₹40 lakh from a bank employee at Pantheerankavu in Kozhikode, Kerala, on June 11. He was detained following a flash inspection conducted at one of his suspected hideouts near Thenhipalam in Malappuram district.
Police sources said efforts were on to recover the stolen money from him. He was suspected of getting external support for the theft, which would be investigated further on the basis of various digital evidence, they said.
According to police, the accused man made away with the cash which was reportedly brought to a private bank at Pantheerankavu following his request to transfer a gold loan from there to ESAF Small Finance Bank. He had reportedly convinced ESAF staff that he had gold worth ₹51 lakh pledged with the private bank and he needed ₹40 lakh to close it and transfer the gold to the new bank, the police said.
The man reportedly fled the scene on a scooter as soon as he got hold of the bag containing the money.
According to police sources, he reportedly secured the bag from an employee named Aravind who reached the premises of the private bank along with other seven bank employees to help him retrieve the pledged gold and shift it to ESAF. In the investigation, it was found that the man had cooked up a story about the pledged gold.
Published – June 13, 2025 12:26 pm IST
