A government bank official was arrested for allegedly stealing money while counting cash offerings made by devotees at the Thakur Banke Bihari Maharaj temple in Vrindavan on Saturday evening.
According to the Vrindavan police, Abhinav Saxena, posted at the Canara Bank’s Dampier Nagar branch in Mathura, admitted to having stolen cash over three days. The police said they recovered more than Rs 9 lakh from him.
The bank immediately suspended the officer and started a departmental inquiry against him. He had also worked at the bank’s Vrindavan branch for four years from 2020.
As per the FIR registered on a complaint lodged by a member of the temple committee, devotees put their cash offerings in around 16 ‘daan patras’ (donation boxes) in the temple complex.
The money thus accumulated in these boxes are counted once or twice every month being deposited in the temple trust’s bank accounts. “We send a letter to the banks where we have accounts, requesting two employees to count the money. We sent the letter to the Canara Bank branch at Vidyapeeth Crossing in Vrindavan four days ago, and the bank sent Abhinav and another employee for the job. On Saturday evening, a trust employee who monitors the live CCTV footage spotted Abhinav stealing cash while counting the notes and informed us,” said Jagmohan, an office-bearer of the temple managing committee.
“We rushed to the spot and searched the bag of the accused and the clothes he was wearing. We found around Rs 1.26 lakh from his clothes on Saturday evening. We later recovered more than Rs 8 lakh from the bag at his place of posting in Mathura,” said Prashant Kapil, Station House Officer at the Vrindavan police station.
The police said that Saxena belongs to Rampur and married his chartered accountant wife last year. “We are investigating further to rule out the possibility of others being involved in the theft,” said the police officer.
© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
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