The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : All glitter, no gold

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, May 30, 2005

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

All glitter, no gold

Staff Reporter

HYDERABAD: They had deposited pure gold in 2004. And what they got back was fake gold in 2005. Two customers of Jagruti Cooperative Bank at Neredmet were shocked when they discovered that the lockers in which they had deposited gold jewellery was missing and in its place, found fake gold ornaments.

According to the Neredmet police, the customers -- Janardhan Reddy and Anand -- had deposited 23 tolas and 10 tolas respectively in the bank, against a loan amount of Rs. 93,000 and Rs. 45,000. A couple of days ago, Janardhan Reddy went to clear his loan and get back the jewellery. When the bank officials opened his locker, Mr. Reddy found fake ornaments. Next, the locker of Anand was opened and there too, bogus ornaments were found.

The bank general manager, Adam, lodged a complaint with the police who concluded that no false key was used nor any damage done to the lockers. Police suspect that someone had used the original key.

The police said each locker had two sets of keys, which were with the bank chairman and general manager. "On March 3, a routine inspection of lockers was carried out and the gold ornaments were found intact," the police said.

It was also found that the handwriting on the tag placed with the jewellery, containing information about the depositor, date and the description of the ornaments was different from the original. Police believe that without insider involvement, the incident would not have been possible. They are in the process of examining the handwriting of the bank employees.

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Andhra Pradesh