A cashier working with the State Bank of India (SBI) was arrested in Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh on Saturday after he allegedly stole cash and gold amounting to over Rs 80 lakh from the locker of the branch where he worked.

Police said that Srinivas Rao, who worked in SBI's Paritala branch under the jurisdiction of the Kanchikacherla police, had the keys to the bank locker and used to handle cash and gold transactions, in violation of the norms.

The rules state that only the branch manager is allowed to keep the locker keys but Paritala was reported to be close to the former branch manager, who gave him the keys. 

"Taking advantage of the situation, Rao stole Rs. 19 lakh cash kept in the locker. He also stole three bags having gold kept in it from the locker. He stole a piece of gold kept as mortgage and took a loan on it with a fake name," senior police officer Raveendra Baby was quoted as saying.

The incident came to light when a new branch manager, G Omprakash, took charge and found the cash and gold missing from the locker.

Police said that besides around Rs 20 lakh in cash, they also recovered over 2 kg of gold from him, which was estimated to be worth Rs 61 lakh. A car worth Rs 6 lakh was also seized.

The incident had initially come to light in May, after some customers who went to withdraw the gold that they had deposited, found it missing. As they staged a protest and accused Srinivasa Rao of being the main accused, the police had begun investigation into the case.

At the time, Srinivas had refuted the allegations. Police said that further investigation was underway and more details would be revealed soon.