SBI employee in Odisha loots Rs 70 lakh worth of pledged gold, absconding since August!

In a shocking case of internal fraud, gold ornaments worth over Rs 70 lakh have been looted from the State Bank of India (SBI) Balugaon branch in Khordha district. The prime accused is none other than the bank’s own cash-in-charge, identified as Jitendra Kumar Biswal, who has been absconding since August this year.

According to reports, Jitendra allegedly stole around 600 grams of pledged gold ornaments along with Rs 7 lakh in cash. The incident reportedly took place over several months, beginning in August, but remained hidden from the public and even from customers whose gold had been pledged at the bank.

Shockingly, despite the branch manager having filed a complaint with the police, no breakthrough has been made so far, and the accused remains untraceable.

The matter came to light only after customer Gopinath Parida and his wife Harpriya visited the bank on October 25 to retrieve 163 grams of pledged gold ornaments. They were informed that their gold was missing, following which the bank’s internal irregularities were exposed.

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Investigations revealed that the accused had pledged 12 packets of stolen gold ornaments at multiple finance companies — including IIFL (five packets), Manappuram Gold Loan (two packets), and Bajaj Finance (three packets) — securing loans worth nearly Rs 50 lakh.

Sources further claim that Jitendra had become addicted to online gaming, which led to heavy financial losses. To recover his losses, he allegedly looted the gold ornaments and borrowed money from several people in the area before going on the run.

Three months after the theft, questions are being raised about the bank’s silence and the police’s slow progress. Customers allege that the SBI management deliberately kept them in the dark to avoid panic and reputational damage.

Meanwhile, SBI Balugaon Branch Manager Sushant Kumar Sethi confirmed that both departmental and police investigations are underway, and efforts are being made to trace the absconding employee.