Ahmedabad | May 24, 2026 | 33 min read
Kadiyar held, Rs 2.20 crore found in car
Ahmedabad Mirror Bureau
Harisiddh Kadiyar was in Shimla with his wife, two children and 11 others when Bank of Baroda discovered the Rs 8.70 crore gone from its Gandhi Road currency chest.
Zone-3 local crime branch tracked him to a flat in Everest Enclave on Sola NFC Road and arrested him on the night of May 22.
Hidden in his Ertiga car in the parking area below was Rs 2.20 crore in cash.
DCP Zone-3 Rupal Solanki told Mirror how the trail unfolded.
The other employee working alongside Kadiyar was due to retire on May 11. When a new employee took his place and counted the cash, the shortage surfaced. "Kadiyar had already manipulated the account formula in the Excel sheet," Solanki said.
BoB informed the police on May 15. By then Kadiyar had switched off his phone. When bank officials called his wife's number, Kadiyar, still in Shimla, realised he had been found out.
"The next day they left and came to Rajasthan. From there Kadiyar rented a flat in Sola while his wife continued living in their Chandkheda residence," Solanki said.
Police kept surveillance running. On the night of May 22, PSI V H Rathod of LCB got a tip-off on Kadiyar's exact location and the team moved in.
"We found Rs 2.20 crore in cash hidden in his Ertiga car. During interrogation he confessed he also invested some money in property. We suspect involvement of others and very soon they will also be arrested," an investigator said.
How the cash left the bank
Kadiyar did not act alone. Two bank labourers, Zulfikar Ansari and Sultan Ansari, allegedly helped him carry it out.
The trio entered the storeroom and redistributed 174 currency reams from three boxes into 14 separate cartons to avoid suspicion. The cartons were loaded onto a trolley and smuggled out.
The notes were repacked into three trunks. Two trunks, estimated at Rs 7 crore to Rs 8 crore, were kept by Kadiyar. The third, around Rs 1 crore, went to the co-accused.
e-Kuber portal under probe
Investigators are examining how Kadiyar submitted forged chest balance certificates and fake chest slips through the RBI's e-Kuber Currency Chest portal without immediate detection.
Teams are still hunting the absconding accomplices and the remaining cash.
Bank stayed silent after Rs 20 lakh theft
Kadiyar had allegedly siphoned nearly Rs 20 lakh on an earlier occasion. The bank quietly recovered the money and kept him on.
Investigators say that silence may have cost the bank Rs 8.70 crore.
Ahmedabad: In a sensational case of breach of trust and high-value theft, the city police 's Zone-3 Local Crime Branch (LCB) has arrested a Bank of Baroda employee accused of siphoning off Rs 8.70 crore from an RBI currency chest operating inside the bank’s Kalupur branch on Gandhi Road.
The accused, identified as Harisiddh Kadiyara, 42, a resident of Saraswati Nagar on IOC Road in Chandkheda, was working as a joint custodian at the RBI-authorised currency chest maintained at the bank. Police said he allegedly manipulated records and stole massive amounts of cash on January 6 and waited to disappear after three months- the period when the CCTV of the bank gets deleted.It was on May 13 that Kadiyara went on leave on the pretext of having sudden fever and disappeared, thinking that he would never be caught as there was not CCTV footage. But the motion camera at the bank had already caught him.
DCP Zone 3 Rupal Solanki told Mirror that after going on leave Kadiyara went on a family tour with 13 others, his wife who is in the Railway Protection Force ( RPF) and two children. "The other employee with Kadiayara was to retire on May 11 and hence the new employee deployed in his place counted the cash and that is when the BOB authorities came to know about the theft because Kadiraya and already manipulated the account formula in the excel sheet. The day we were informed by the BOB authorities- that is on May 15, we launched an investigation. Meanwhile, as Kadiyara had switched off his phone, the bank officials called on his wife's phone number. This is how Kadiyara who was in Shimla at that time came to know that the bank authorities have come to know about the theft. The next day they left and came to Rajasthan and from there while Kadiyara rented a flat in Sola, his wife continued to live in their residence in Chandkheda," said DCP Solanki.
Police officials said that they were keeping a tab on everything. "It was late night on May 22 we traced him to a flat in Gota and arrested him. We have found Rs 2.20 crore in cash which hidden in his Ertiga Car. During primary interrogation he confessed before us that he also invested some money in property. We are trying to trace out the documents of investment. However, we suspect involvement of 'others' in the crime and very soon they will also be arrested," added an investigator.
Kadiyar was staying in Everest Enclave in Sola : Conspired with two labourers for loading and unloading of bags
During patrolling and surveillance operations, PSI VH Rathod of LCB got a tip-off regarding the Kadiyar's exact whereabouts on Friday night. The team raided a flat in Everest Enclave on Sola NFC Road and arrested him. During interrogation, Kadiyar allegedly confessed that a portion of the stolen cash had been hidden inside a parked Attiga car in the parking area below the apartment complex. The cops recovered the cash from the car later and also three mobile phones. Investigators revealed that the accused did not act alone. Police said kadiyar allegedly conspired with two labourers employed for loading and unloading work at the bank, identified as Zulfikar Ansari and Sultan Ansari. According to investigators, the trio entered the bank’s storeroom and tampered with cash cartons containing bundles of Rs 500 notes. Police said 174 currency reams stored in three boxes were redistributed into 14 separate cartons to avoid suspicion. These cartons were then allegedly loaded onto a trolley and smuggled out of the bank premises before being transported to the accused’s residence. Police further stated that the two accomplices allegedly removed bundles of Rs 500 notes from the cartons and repacked them into three separate trunks. Of these, two trunks, containing an estimated Rs7 crore to Rs 8 crore were allegedly kept by Kadiyar, while the third trunk containing around Rs 1 crore was taken away by the co-accused.
How Kadiyar manipulated currency chest records
Investigators are now probing how the accused managed to manipulate currency chest records and submit forged chest balance certificates and fake chest slips through the e-Kuber Currency Chest portal without immediate detection. Police sources said the investigation is focusing on the financial trail, possible insider assistance, and whether any additional bank employees or external handlers were involved in the operation. Raids are expected to continue in the coming days as teams hunt for the absconding accomplices and the remaining stolen cash.
Kadiyar had earlier siphoned off Rs 20 lakh but was let off without a police complaint
Investigators probing the case have uncovered a startling fact, the prime accused,Kadiyar, had allegedly siphoned off nearly Rs 20 lakh on an earlier occasion. Instead of reporting the matter to the police, the bank quietly recovered the money and allowed him to continue working in a highly sensitive cash-handling role. That decision, investigators say, may have paved the way for one of the biggest internal bank frauds in recent years.
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