Eluru district Superintendent of Police K. Pratap Shiva Kishore addresses a press conference on the theft of gold ornaments pledged under gold loan accounts at the Bank of Baroda’s Jangareddygudem branch, in Eluru on Friday.
| Photo Credit: ARRANGEMENT
The Jangareddygudem police have unravelled a major gold theft at the Bank of Baroda branch in Jangareddygudem in Eluru district, arresting a gold appraiser and recovering 4.120 kg of gold ornaments worth about ₹5.81 crore.Addressing a press conference on Friday, Superintendent of Police K. Pratap Shiva Kishore said the accused, Chalapaka Raju, allegedly replaced gold ornaments pledged by customers with imitation jewellery and other materials before misappropriating the originals.The investigation revealed that the accused had tampered with gold pledged under 176 loan accounts, cheating both the customers and the bank.Jangareddygudem Additional Superintendent of Police R. Sushmitha, who supervised the investigation, said the accused had allegedly stolen 6.449 kg of gold ornaments valued at about ₹10 crore and sold them at various jewellery shops.The police recovered 4.120 kg of gold ornaments and ₹10 lakh in cash from the accused. Further investigation is under way to ascertain whether others were involved in the offence, the police said. Published - July 10, 2026 06:52 pm IST
