Don’t bite hand that feeds, manager had told Murugan

CHENNAI: “Muruga, this is betrayal. Don’t bite the hand that feeds you,” Fedbank’s Arumbakkam branch manager K Suresh had told his colleague-turned-criminal M Murugan when he executed his hare-brained heist attempt last Saturday.

Murugan, working as a relationship executive and deputed to the Padi branch, had taken two days’ leave before he pulled off the heist.

Last Saturday, Murugan had come to the Arumbakkam branch in the morning. Only Suresh and customer service executive Vijayalakshmi were there then. The other relationship executive, Priyanka, was on leave that day.

According to the FIR, an executive at the Padi branch tried reaching Murugan on his phone, but it was switched off.

“Suresh, on seeing Murugan, conveyed to him that personnel from the Padi office are trying to reach him and asked him why his phone was switched off. To this, Murugan said his phone was given for service,” a senior police officer said citing the FIR.

When Murugan and his associates threatened the staff at knifepoint to lock them up in the bathroom, Suresh tried to reason with him. Murugan told his colleagues that he had planned to shift with his family to Andhra Pradesh with the stolen gold, according to the FIR.

He cut off the wires of the Digital Video Recorder (DVR) and the alarm system before escaping with the gold. City police ‘officially’ arrested Murugan and two others, Surya Prakash (29), and Senthil Kumaran (38) on Thursday.

Murugan’s WhatsApp status before his daylight bank caper is widely regarded to be a reflection of his state of mind.

“There is no right or wrong in this world. If we can justify our acts, then it is right. If not, then it is wrong,” it said.

While the top brass of the city police denied any inspiration theories, a senior police officer told DT Next that their investigations revealed that Murugan felt it was fair to rob the bank.

“Murugan convinced his friends that the gold pledged by the public was not assessed fairly. The pledged gold is many times assessed for a lesser value,” a senior police officer said.

On Friday, Police said they have solved the case by arresting all the accused involved and recovering the 31.7 kg of stolen gold jewellery.