5 held in connection with theft of valuables from bank lockers in UP

Five people, including a manager, were arrested in connection with an alleged theft of valuables worth over Rs 2.5 crore from nine lockers of the Central Bank of India's Karachikhana branch here, police said on Sunday.

While four people were arrested on Saturday, one surrendered on Sunday, they said.

Stolen ornaments weighing 342 grams have been recovered from the arrested accused, Deputy Commissioner of Police (East) Pramod Kumar said.

Bank manager Ram Prasad, locker technician Chandraprakash, Karan Raj and Rakesh were arrested on Saturday, he said.

Assistant bank manager Shubham Malviya, who was absconding, surrendered on Sunday night following police raids, the DCP said.

''He (Shubham Malviya) will be interrogated. All the accused will subsequently be taken into police custody,'' he said.

Talking to PTI, Kumar said Prasad and Malviya allegedly broke open the lockers, took away the ornaments and sold them off.

According to Reserve Bank of India norms, a five-member committee comprising two bank managers, a legal advisor and two independent witnesses is to be formed to open the inoperative lockers, but the arrested manager violated the rules, DCP (Crime) Salmantaj Jafertaj Patil said.

When a Special Investigation Team (SIT) launched its investigation, discrepancies were found in the register and other records of the bank, the police said. The probe suggested that 29 inoperative lockers were opened. When police interrogated Chandraprakash, he initially tried to mislead them but later, broke down and confessed to his crime, they said.

He told the interrogators that he had broken open 29 lockers, of which about a dozen had valuables, they added.

At least nine customers of the bank branch had found valuables worth crores of rupees missing from their lockers, the police had said on Friday.

So far, three FIRs have been lodged in connection with the matter.

The incident came to light on March 14, when Manju Bhattacharya, one of the bank customers, checked her locker and found valuables missing.

Another customer, Sita Gupta, also reported the same happening with her.

When the news appeared in the local newspapers, other customers rushed to the bank. Since Tuesday, seven of them have said that their valuables have gone missing from the lockers, DCP Kumar said.

The total cost of the stolen articles is estimated to be over Rs 2.5 crore, with each customer reporting a loss of about Rs 30 lakh, he said.