Manappuram gold heist case solved; insider, aide arrested

It’s official. The gold heist that took place at the Bhavani Peth branch of Manappuram Finance on Tuesday night was an insider job.

The company’s assistant branch head Somnath Raghu Waghapure, 26, has been arrested along with his childhood friend Tejas Rajaram Bhosale, 31, for their alleged involvement. The police has recovered part of the stolen booty from the duo.
A native of Karnalwadi in Purandar taluka, Waghapure did a course in management from London, following which he had been working with Manappuram Finance for the last six months.

Police said they always suspected an insiders hand in the heist wherein 17.5 kg of gold and Rs6.5 lakh in cash was stolen. Joint commissioner of police Sanjiv Kumar Singhal said, “We suspected it to be an insider job because outsiders would not have been able to strike at the branch successfully in such a short span of time. The heist took place between 7pm and 9pm on Tuesday. Of the two CCTV cameras, one was deliberately shut around 7pm.”

Singhal added, “Of the five keys needed to carry out the heist, Waghapure had two. So we had turned our gaze towards him. He did not confess to the crime immediately. But we managed to nail him.”

Waghapure was caught by  crime branch sleuths at Kikavi village in Bhor taluka on Thursday morning. Although the police let him go on Wednesday, a watch was kept on his activities.
Waghapure was arrested soon after he collected the money and the gold that had been hidden at Bhosale’s house.