Rs 33 lakh jewellery goes 'missing' from SBI locker in Odisha
The incident came to light after the woman, Snigdha Tripathy of Mohanty Pada, lodged a complaint with Bargarh Town police.
Published: 19th February 2021 08:26 AM | Last Updated: 19th February 2021 08:26 AM | A+A A-
For representational purposes (Express Illustrations)
BARGARH: A woman of Bargarh town received the shock of her life after jewellery worth over Rs 33 lakh went missing from her locker in the State Bank of India (SBI) main branch in the district.
The incident came to light after the woman, Snigdha Tripathy of Mohanty Pada, lodged a complaint with Bargarh Town police on Wednesday.
According to the complaint, Snigdha along with her 84-year-old mother Jyotsnamayee was maintaining a locker in the SBI, main branch. The duo had not accessed the facility in the last more than four years.
On Wednesday, Snigdha visited the bank to check her jewellery. Deputy branch manager of SBI Duryodhan Behera asked her to handover the key and accompanied her to the locker room. The locker was opened and to her surprise, she found that all the articles were missing.
The complainant further alleged that on being confronted, the DBM’s behaviour seemed suspicious. She claimed Behera was aware of the theft much prior to the opening of the locker.
Snigdha said she had last opened the locker in June, 2016. The locker had jewellery items gifted to her by family and relatives during the wedding.
The ornaments included eight gold necklaces, 12 gold finger rings, eight gold bangles, 10 pairs of gold earrings, one gold locket, two gold chains, four silver anklets, 10 silver toe rings, two pairs of silver bracelets and one gold ‘maang tika’ (head jewellery). The estimated value of the jewellery is said to be around Rs 33.37 lakh.
When the bank authorities failed to provide any satisfactory explanation about the missing jewellery, Snigdha lodged a written complaint about the loss with the chief manager, SBI main branch.
She alleged that the bank staff were hostile to her after the matter was reported to the chief manager. Basing on the complaint, Town police visited the bank on Thursday to investigate the matter.
Investigating officer Baliar Singh said, though the complainant alleged that the bank staff are responsible for the theft of her jewellery from the locker, no such clue could be found during preliminary investigation.
“The locker can only be opened when the keys of the bank and the customer are used at the same time. Further investigation is on and we are looking at all possible angles,” he added.
