Coins worth Rs 11 cr missing from SBI vaults; CBI takes over investigation

The CBI has taken over the probe into the case of coins worth Rs 11 crore going missing from the vaults of the SBI branch in Mehandipur Balaji in Rajasthan, officials said on Monday.

State Bank of India (SBI) had approached the Rajasthan High Court seeking a CBI probe into the matter as the missing amount was higher than Rs 3 crore, the threshold for seeking a probe by the agency.

On the high court's directions, the CBI has taken over the FIR earlier registered by the Rajasthan Police.

The matter came to light after the SBI branch decided to carry out counting of money after a preliminary enquiry indicated discrepancy in the cash reserve at the bank.

A Jaipiur-based private vendor was roped in to carry out the counting of coins worth over Rs 13 crore, according to branch account books.

The counting revealed that over Rs 11 crore worth of coins were missing from the branch.

Only 3,000 coin bags carrying about Rs 2 crore could be accounted for and were transferred to the RBI's coin holding branch.

It is also alleged that the employees of the private vendor who was doing the counting were threatened in the night on August 10, 2021 at the guesthouse where they were staying and were asked to refrain from the counting, the FIR has alleged.