the goan I network
MARGAO
Mystery shrouds the disappearance of gold ornaments worth around Rs 10 lakh from the locker of the Aquem branch of the Madgaum Urban Cooperative Bank.
While Eder D’Silva in his complaint to the Margao police has claimed that the gold ornaments have gone missing from the bank locker, Madgaum Urban Cooperative Bank Aquem Branch Manager Lily Parodkar said the bank cannot be held responsible for the missing gold since the locker cannot be opened by the bank without the key in possession of the customer.
Margao PI Kapil Nayak told the media that he is conducting an inquiry into the complaint lodged by Eder D’Silva before initiating necessary action.
The missing gold ornaments from the locker came to light when Eder came to the bank on Monday. To his shock, however, the ornaments in two packets were found missing from the locker. After intimating the incident to the bank manager, Eder and his mother headed to the Margao police station to lodge their complaint.
The locker, which is operated by Eder and his mother Filomena, was last operated on August 20 by the mother as she removed one packet containing the gold, leaving the remaining gold in the locker. Eder told the police that his mother Filomena had gone to the bank on August 20 and removed his chain and bracelet and wife’s necklace and three bangles. The remaining gold consisting of his mother’s three necklaces, earrings, bangles, besides his gold consisting of two chains, a bracelet, gold bar worth Rs 1.14 lakh and wife’s ornaments, including a necklace, three fingers and two earrings were left in the locker.
“When I went to my locker on Monday noon, I was shocked to see that all the gold items were missing,” he stated in his complaint.
Branch Manager Lily Parodkar, however, asserted that the locker cannot be tampered with by the bank since it cannot be opened without the key in possession of the customer. “As per banking norm, the master key remains with the bank, but the locker cannot be opened with the master key without the customer’s key. Only two signatories can operate the lockers,” she said.
Saying that the bank cannot be held responsible for the missing gold ornaments, the branch manager said the bank does not keep an inventory of the items placed inside the locker. “The customer had drawn my attention to the missing gold episode and has also lodged a police complaint,” she said,.
Even as the branch manager said the police should carry out their inquiry into the incident, members of the D’Silva family made a
plea to the bank and the police to recover the missing gold ornaments.
