Andheri resident loses gold jewellery worth ₹36 lakh from bank locker

The police said they have registered a case against an unidentified person on Saturday and are combing CCTV footage to find the accused

MUMBAI: Gold jewellery worth ₹36 lakh was stolen from a bank locker belonging to an Andheri-based event manager. The police said they have registered a case against an unidentified person on Saturday.

Andheri resident loses gold jewellery worth ₹36 lakh from bank locker

The incident goes back to 2023, when, according to the DN Nagar police, the complainant, Apoorva Shah, a 54-year-old resident of Shastri Nagar in Andheri West, approached the police after discovering that ornaments kept in his locker at the Juhu branch of a private bank were missing.

Shah told the police that he opened an account with the bank in 1997 and was allotted a free locker facility in 2013. In February 2021, he placed several gold and silver articles, including a gold pendant studded with precious stones, and some documents, inside the locker. He said the items were kept in an orange pouch and a few other small boxes and pouches.

Later in 2021, when Shah visited the bank, he noticed that the locker room was being painted. However, he did not check the contents of his locker or remove the ornaments, as he was not given any prior intimation by the bank.

After the Covid-19 lockdown, in September 2023, when he opened the locker again, he found that the items inside were not arranged in the same order as before, which raised his suspicion. He also noticed that the locker appeared to be damaged. Some valuables that had been kept inside small boxes were missing, and the boxes were found empty.

When he raised the issue with Sai Raj, the bank official present at the time, he was allegedly assured that no one had accessed the locker. The complainant later reported the matter to the bank authorities, who also maintained that the locker had not been tampered with and advised him to look for the jewellery in his house.

After confirming that the items were missing, the complainant lodged complaints with the bank administration and the DN Nagar police in 2023. He even met the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Bandra, and informed him about the alleged theft.

Following a preliminary inquiry, on Saturday the police registered an FIR under sections 380 (theft), 454 (house trespass) and 457 (house trespass by night) of the Indian Penal Code. “We are currently verifying the allegations made by the complainant,” said a police officer from DN Nagar police station.