A woman in Kanpur has alleged that jewellery and other valuables worth nearly Rs 50 lakh that she had kept in an SBI locker were missing when she returned to access it after several years.
The woman said she had opened the locker in 2003 at the then State Bank of Travancore’s Swaroop Nagar branch. The bank was later merged with the State Bank of India as part of the consolidation of several associate banks.
State Bank of Travancore (SBT), headquartered in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, was a major associate bank of SBI. In 2017, it was merged with the State Bank of India, bringing an end to SBT as a separate banking brand.
According to the woman, she had stored gold jewellery and other valuables worth approximately Rs 50 lakh in the locker.
Following her husband’s death, she moved to Lucknow and could not visit the branch regularly. However, locker charges continued to be deducted from her bank account, which led her to believe that the locker remained operational.
When she recently contacted the bank to access the locker, she was initially informed that the relevant records were not readily available because of the merger. After the bank traced the necessary details and verified its records, she was eventually permitted to open the locker.
However, she was shocked to find the locker completely empty.
The woman subsequently approached the police and alleged that the jewellery and other valuables she had deposited in the locker were missing. Based on her complaint, an FIR was registered at Swaroop Nagar police station against the branch manager and other bank employees.
During the initial investigation, police found records suggesting that the locker had been accessed previously. Investigators are examining bank records, locker access registers, CCTV footage and other relevant documents to establish when the locker was opened and how the valuables allegedly went missing.
The investigation remains ongoing as police seek to determine who accessed the locker and whether there were any lapses in the bank’s record-keeping procedures or locker security.
