In a significant breakthrough, the UP Special Task Force (STF) arrested Girish Chandra Tiwari, the branch manager of a Maharashtra-based Federal Bank, from Lucknow on Saturday. Tiwari is accused of embezzling Rs2.5 crore worth of gold loans in 2023, a case that had been under investigation since his disappearance with the stolen gold.
Tiwari, originally from Machchlishahar, Jaunpur, had been posted as the branch manager of the Federal Bank‘s Meera Road branch in Thane, Maharashtra since 2021. Police officials revealed that Tiwari had allowed customers to take out gold loans by depositing their gold at the bank, but instead of keeping the gold in the bank’s secure vault, he kept it for himself. In 2023, Tiwari disappeared with the entire stock of gold, amounting to Rs2.5 crore, leaving behind no trace.
Following the disappearance, a First Information Report (FIR) was lodged against Tiwari at the Kashmira police station in Thane, Maharashtra. He had been on the run ever since, with law enforcement agencies in Maharashtra initiating a manhunt. The Maharashtra police shared information about Tiwari’s whereabouts with the UP STF, who tracked him down to a hideout in Khewali Hasanpur village, located under the Sushant Golf City area in Lucknow, where he was arrested on Saturday.
During interrogation, Tiwari reportedly confessed to selling off the stolen gold and using the proceeds to invest in a Lucknow-based real estate company, Tronica Properties Solutions, in an attempt to make a profit. The STF has handed over Tiwari to the Maharashtra police for further legal proceedings.
The arrest has brought relief to the victims who had trusted Tiwari with their gold as collateral for loans. Authorities are now looking into the role of the real estate company and whether it was complicit in laundering the stolen money.
