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Trader making bogus claim, says bank

Patna: A trader claiming that termites ate up Rs 4.5 lakh he kept in a bank locker is demanding compensation, while the bank authorities contend it to be ‘fictitious’.

“I had kept my lifetime earnings in the bank locker, but all my savings in my old age have been lost,” 60-year-old Dwarika Prasad of Qazipur area here who trades in ghee told PTI.

Prasad said he was shocked when he opened locker number 17 allotted to him at the Nayatola branch of Central Bank of India on January 29. The Rs 4.5 lakh he had kept in cash had been eaten up by termites and fixed deposit documents, Kisan Vikas Patras and National Saving Certificates worth over Rs 2.5 lakh badly damaged.

Prasad said he had kept the cash and investment documents in the locker as he had separated from his wife two years ago because of strained relations. He said he had lodged a formal complaint with the bank authorities the very next day and sought compensation, but there was no response. “I showed them the polythene bag that contained currency notes nibbled to shreds by termites to the bank authorities but nobody paid any attention to my complaint,” he said.

Senior manager of the branch Y. P. Saha, however, termed Prasad’s claim as ‘fictitious’. “People generally don’t keep money in bank lockers. The customer’s claim appears to be fictitious,” Mr. Saha said. He said no bank in the country ever ascertained what a customer was depositing in the locker since the entire thing was ‘confidential’. -- PTI

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