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A major shock hit Maharashtra Bhandara district this week when a young bank officer, trusted with the safety of public money, turned out to be the thief himself. A 32-year-old assistant manager of Canara Bank’s Chikhla branch in Sitasawangi, Mayur Nepale, stole Rs 1.58 crore from the strongroom and was arrested within 24 hours. Police say the crime was not a dramatic bank robbery carried out by masked gangs, but a quiet, carefully planned theft by a white-collar employee drowning in debt, according to a report by The Times of India.

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Debt from online betting led to the crime

According to police, Nepale had been struggling with more than Rs 80 lakh of debt. This included Rs 30 lakh lost in online betting and gambling, a Rs 12 lakh personal loan, an Rs 8.5 lakh car loan, a Rs 3.5 lakh education loan, a Rs 3 lakh Paytm loan, and Rs 20 lakh borrowed from private lenders. Despite clearing banking exams and even preparing for the UPSC, he could not break free from his addiction. Police suspect he was behind earlier thefts too, including misappropriating his own father's Rs 80 lakh fixed deposit at the same branch.

Inspired by Karnataka gold heist and online tutorials

Investigators found that Nepale had drawn ideas from a senior official’s ₹58 crore gold heist in Karnataka earlier this year. He also watched online videos on how to break in, avoid leaving fingerprints, and destroy CCTV evidence. Instead of an impulsive act, he carried out a solo heist that he had been planning for several days.

Buying bags and preparing for the theft

On the night of November 17, Nepale visited Nagpur city, where he stayed with his family, and purchased four bags. Police say these bags were later filled with the stolen cash. He then returned to Bhandara early on 18 November, but this time with a plan to carry out the break-in without raising suspicion.

How he carried out the heist

In the early hours of November 18, Nepale drove to the bank branch on his Jupiter scooter. To make the theft look like an outside burglary, he took several steps:

• Snapped power lines
• Disabled CCTV cameras
• Used duplicate keys to enter the strongroom
• Wore a monkey cap to hide his face
• Wiped fingerprints
• Tried to mask body odour
• Broke the channel gate and shutter lock from outside to pretend it was a forced entry

Inside the strongroom, he emptied cash chests and removed the DVR and cameras to destroy digital evidence. As assistant manager, he also had special access. Only days earlier, on November 13, he had asked the RBI for an additional Rs 85 lakh, saying it was needed for an 'emergency'. This pushed the branch's cash supply to nearly five times the usual amount.

CCTV captures what he tried to hide

Although he disabled the cameras inside the branch, he did not realise that one external CCTV camera from a nearby location was still working. That camera clearly captured him arriving on his scooter with the empty bags. The same vehicle and his physical features were enough to raise suspicion.

When the staff arrived on the morning of November 18 and saw the broken locks and missing cash, they informed Gobarwahi police. Superintendent of Police Noorul Hasan quickly formed 10 special teams, including cyber experts and local crime branch units. Because only an insider could know the exact location of keys and cameras, investigators began checking staff movements.

His own mistakes gave him away

Nepale's behaviour on November 17 was unusual. He made several trips and then applied for sudden leave, saying he had 'training' in Nagpur. Even more suspicious, after stealing the money and hiding it in his car in Nagpur, he returned to Bhandara the next morning on his scooter, the same one seen on CCTV. He told police he had come to ‘help with the investigation’, but officers quickly matched his scooter with the footage.

Police recover cash and arrest him

A team from the Bhandara Local Crime Branch, led by Senior Inspector Vivek Sonavane, raided his wife's house in Nagpur. At first, Nepale denied everything, but soon confessed. Police recovered:

• Rs 96.12 lakh in cash
• Tata Nexon car worth Rs 10 lakh
• Jupiter scooter worth Rs 80,000
• Redmi phone
• Stolen DVR

The total value of recovered assets stands at Rs 1.07 crore. Nepale has been charged with theft, criminal breach of trust, and destruction of evidence.

SP Hasan said no outsider could have known how to disable the cameras or locate the keys. The police plan to flag serious lapses to the RBI and recommend mandatory cloud backup for CCTV systems so that such evidence cannot be easily destroyed in future.