Kanpur: The Commissionerate Police revealed that bank officials are reportedly behind the numerous thefts from the lockers of the Central Bank of India here.
An estimated Rs 3 crore worth of jewellery was reported to be missing from the safe lockers.
The police have taken 4 people including a branch manager, into custody.
The police started an investigation after nine customers of the Central Bank of India, Karachi Khana branch in Kanpur filed an FIR.
They had filed a report alleging that valuables worth almost Rs 3 crore had gone missing from their lockers.
The bank has a total of 1142 lockers out of which 507 are allotted.
Out of those allotted, 306 lockers have been examined by their respective holders.
The remaining 201 are yet to be inspected. The police have asked all locker holders to check their allotted lockers.
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Salman Taj Patil, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), crime revealed that the lockers were broken into on December 9 2021.
They were pried open by inserting a thin iron object.
All the officials of Central Bank's Karachi Khana branch were present during the theft.
Chandraprakash, who played the main role in opening the lockers, confessed that he was given an extra Rs 10,000.
He also received about 300 grams of jewellery as a reward.
The investigation revealed that 29 lockers were broken into on the same day.
10 lockers had valuable items but only 3 were reported. The officials also threatened the complainants.
It remains to be seen how the victims who lost their valuables will be compensated, as the police have not yet recovered any of the stolen items.
