Gold kept by customers as security against loans allegedly went missing from a Bank of India branch locker in Uttar Pradesh's Firozabad district, according to police reports. A total of 96 packets containing pledged gold were found missing from the locker of the bank's Bharaul branch. The FIR did not mention the weight or value of the missing gold, but it is suspected to be worth crores of rupees, police said.
The bank's Agra regional office chief manager Aditya Pratap Singh lodged an FIR at the Araon police station on Wednesday night against three employees, including the then branch manager. An FIR has been registered under Section 316(5)(criminal breach of trust) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita against former branch manager Sandeep Yadav, staff officer Dilip Kumar and credit officer/staff officer Naresh Kumar, a resident of Hathras district.
According to police reports, superintendent of police Aditya Langhe stated that bank staff member and key custodian Dilip Kumar, a resident of Basgaon village in Etawah district, had been absent without information since May 27, due to which locker-related work had stopped. When the bank failed to contact him, suspicion arose and the matter was reported to the regional office in Agra. Following this, senior security manager Ankit and senior manager (security) of the Ghiror branch, Sushil Kumar, were sent to the Bharaul branch on June 15.
Police said a duplicate key was arranged and the locker was opened in the presence of the bank's panel advocate Shiv Kumar Sharma with video recording. Officials found that 96 gold loan packets were missing from the locker. Araon police station in-charge Rishi Kumar confirmed that an investigation has been launched and teams, including the surveillance unit, have conducted raids at several locations to trace the accused and recover the missing gold.
