An employee of a private company was arrested on Thursday on charges of cheating his employers of Rs 3.5 lakh by pretending that he had been robbed.

Asim Basu, 32, was carrying the money from a bank near his office in central Calcutta.

He was rounded up after forensic experts confirmed that the wounds he showed to police while lodging the complaint were “all self-inflicted”. During interrogation, he broke down and reportedly admitted to the crime.

The police said Basu, whose father is a teacher and brother an engineer, drew a salary of Rs 2,000. “He regularly carried huge amounts of money — ranging from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 15 lakh — for his employers. This time, he could not resist the temptation to steal the money,” said an officer.

“He had kept the money in a relative’s house. The entire amount has been recovered,” he added.

Basu had lodged a complaint with Bowbazar thana, alleging that he was walking down RN Mukherjee Road with the money when a taxi carrying four youths approached him.

It stopped near him and one of the four youths asked him the way to Hatibagan. As Basu stepped closer, they dragged him in and snatched the bag containing the money and his cellphone.

The taxi sped off along RN Mukherjee Road and Lenin Sarani. At the Wellington crossing, they allegedly threw him out.

Sleuths found Basu’s statement suspicious. “He had claimed that the criminals had slashed him several times with knives. But our experts founds the wounds self-inflicted,” said Gyanwant Singh, deputy commissioner (detective department).