Mumbai: A complaint has been lodged at Gamdevi police station by a woman who claims that her jewellery worth ₹12 lakh, stored in a bank locker, has been stolen.
The complainant, Mila Sampat, 57, a resident of Andheri East, maintained a locker at the Bank of India branch on Bhulabhai Desai Road in Mahalaxmi, where she stored valuable watches, gold, and diamond ornaments. She would access the locker once a year, and had last opened her locker in January 2020, finding her gold and diamond ornaments intact.
Victim was unable to visit her locker due to pandemic
She was unable to visit the locker the next two years due to the subsequent lockdown, and when she visited in June 2022, she was asked to return due to a sudden electricity outage.
In August 2022, Sampat received a WhatsApp message notifying her of an upcoming bank relocation and urging her to promptly empty the locker. Upon checking the locker, she found her gold and diamond ornaments to be missing and reported the concerned bank officials, who refused to listen to her.
Complaint filed at Gamdevi police station
Frustrated by the bank's lack of action, Sampat filed a complaint at the Gamdevi police station, who have registered an FIR under the relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC)and have initiated an investigation. Notably, the locker was initially registered in the name of Sampat's mother-in-law and husband in 1984, with Sampat's name being added later. Following her husband's passing in 2007, the locker was transferred to Sampat's name.
This incident comes a month after the arrest of a bank custodian by the Malabar Hill police station for the two cases of theft from bank lockers.
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