Mysuru: A goldsmith, who allegedly absconded after customers of a bank complained that part of some pledged gold was missing, was arrested. Vijayanagar ACP Ravikumar said that after the bank authorities filed a complaint against goldsmith Ashwin Kumar, city police alerted the International Criminal Police Organisation (Interpol) after he left for Malaysia. When he recently arrived at Bengaluru International Airport, he was detained by police at the airport, and then Vijayanagar police were informed about his detention. He was later arrested, he stated. Ashwin Kumar is now in judicial custody.Police said that Ashwin was recognised as a gold evaluator and assisted the bank in the safekeeping of the gold pledged by customers. During the process of keeping the gold in safekeeping, he used to remove pieces of gold, about 0.5 g or 1 g, from the gold items without the notice of bank officials. For the last 5 years, he was accused of removing nearly 250 g of gold, according to the complaint by the bank authorities.A complaint of cheating was registered against Ashwin by Vijayanagar police, following a complaint by the bank. Investigation is unde rway. The crime came to light after a woman customer accused bank employees of removing a part of pledged gold, after which bank employees carried out an investigation, leading to the registration of an FIR against the goldsmith.
