₹50 lakh gone from SBI locker? Woman opens it after 23 years, finds jewellery and valuables missing

A bank locker is meant to be the safest place for your valuables, but for one woman, it became a shock for her. A Kanpur resident has alleged that gold jewellery and other valuables worth nearly ₹50 lakh vanished from her bank locker, which she opened after years, prompting police to register an FIR against the branch manager and employees.

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Locker opened in 2003, found empty in 2026

Rashmi Arora, a resident of Kaushalpuri, said she opened locker number 23 in 2003 at the then State Bank of Travancore (SBT) branch in Swaroop Nagar, Kanpur. After her husband’s death, she moved to Lucknow and could not visit the branch regularly, though locker charges continued to be deducted from her account, leading her to believe the locker remained active. When she recently sought access, bank staff initially said records were unavailable following SBT’s 2017 merger into SBI, but later traced the details and allowed her to open the locker. On July 27, in the presence of bank staff, she opened the compartment and found it empty.

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Police register FIR, probe access records and CCTV

Arora approached the police, accusing the bank management and staff of plotting to misappropriate the jewellery. On the Deputy Police Commissioner’s orders, Swaroop Nagar police registered an FIR against the branch manager and concerned employees. During the preliminary probe, investigators found entries suggesting the locker had been accessed previously and are now examining access registers, CCTV footage and other documents to determine when it was opened and how the valuables disappeared.

Bank and police statements

Police have said the investigation is ongoing to establish who accessed the locker and whether there were lapses in record-keeping or security. SBI has reportedly sought details of the matter as it looks into the allegations, while the case remains under active police inquiry.