Hyderabad, October 15: Thieves broke into a Primary Agricultural Cooperative Society (PACS) at Yacharam on the outskirts of the city and decamped with more than four kg of gold and Rs 70,000 cash from the lockers. The stolen gold was pledged to the PACS by farmers as surety for taking agricultural loans.
Police are suspecting the role of an ‘insider’ as the keys of the lockers were left behind in the PACS, which is not the routine practice.
According to the Cyberabad police, thieves broke open the locks of the iron grilled door of the PACS initially.
They later opened the locks of the shutters and entered the premises.
The intruders searched the almirahs of the PACS and managed to get the two sets of keys which staff use to open lockers. “As a general practice, one set of keys is kept with the cashier while the other should be with the secretary of the PACS. The two officials should take the keys along with them while closing,” Cyberabad DCP (crimes) Suryaprakash Rao said and added that the keys were left in the premises on Tuesday against the norms.
“This gives enough scope to investigate the possibility of the involvement of the staff of the PACS,” the officer said.
Once the intruders got the keys, their job become easy.
“All the 16 lockers were opened with the keys and 4.2 kilo gold and Rs 70,000 stolen from them,” the police said.
Police added that the intruders tried to enter the premises by making a hole in the wall of the PACS. “They tried to make a hole in the wall but as it proved difficult, they entered through the front side by breaking open the grills and shutters,” police said.
The attender, Ramulu, who came to open the PACS, was the first one to notice the theft on Wednesday morning.
Ramulu informed his higherups who alerted the Yacharam police.
The CEO, N Ram Reddy, was questioned as to why he had left the keys in the PACS itself. As the police started to grill him, he fell ‘unconscious’ and was shifted to a local hospital. He was later shifted to another hospital in the city.
All the seven member staff of the PACS are being questioned.
Police are also suspecting the possible involvement of migrant labourers, who erected temporary huts in the vicinity of the PACS recently. “We were told that some of the hut-dwellers went to their respective places and we do not rule out the possibility of their involvement.
The possibility of professional gangs is also being probed,” the officer said.
Sources said the 4.2 kilo gold was pledged by local farmers and the PACS extended a loan of Rs 30 lakh keeping the gold as surety.
“According to the norms of the PACS, gold or cash, if it exceeds Rs 50 lakh has to be shifted to another bank at Ibrahimpatnam. This norm, however, is not followed,” sources said.
The PACS opened the locker facility only five months back. There was no security guard and surveillance cameras were also not installed
—Agencies