Rajkot: City banks found themselves outsmarted recently by a thief with a knack for sleight of hand. Over two days — Feb 21 and 22 — a man managed to make away with Rs 50,000 from the cash counters of three separate banks, leaving staff baffled.Employees of two private banks and one small finance bank across the city filed complaints, reporting a similar modus operandi in each case — carried out in crowded branches.The trick was simple yet effective. The man approached cashiers on the pretext of exchanging currency, handing over Rs 20,000 in Rs 200 notes and asking for Rs 500 notes in return. Moments later, he returned the Rs 500 bundles, claiming he wanted “new notes.” A police officer said CCTV footage showed that during this back-and-forth exchange, the man discreetly removed 20 notes — amounting to Rs 10,000 — from the Rs 500 bundle and slipped them into his pocket.The thefts came to light only when cashiers noticed discrepancies while reconciling their counters at the end of the day. The full sequence of events, caught on the banks’ CCTV cameras, prompted police to launch a thorough investigation.Police said the identical method used in all three cases suggests the involvement of either a single clever individual or a coordinated group. Authorities are now scrutinizing CCTV footage from all locations to identify the culprit and have urged bank staff to stay alert against such diversionary tricks.
