The Central Crime Branch (CCB) of the Greater Chennai Police has cracked a bank locker theft case involving an employee of a private bank, and recovered ₹20.60 lakh in cash and a 188-gram melted gold bar — representing the full proceeds of the stolen jewellery.
Swarupa Rani Sivakumar, a Non-Resident Indian (NRI) living in the United States, maintained a locker at a private bank’s Velachery branch. As she rarely accessed the locker, she had entrusted it to her mother in Chennai.
During a routine verification, the family discovered that gold jewellery weighing 238 grams, which was kept in the locker, had gone missing. Based on a complaint lodged by her brother, Senthil Kumar, the CCB registered a case for theft and criminal breach of trust by a bank employee.
The police have identified the branch manager, who is also in charge of the locker vault, as the prime suspect. On Wednesday, a special team secured the accused at the bank premises. He confessed to unauthorisedly accessing the locker, removing the jewellery, and selling it to a pawn broker in Velachery for ₹21 lakh. He also admitted to hiding the remaining cash inside the bank.
Based on his confession, the CCB team recovered ₹20.60 lakh in cash from a meeting room inside the bank, and seized the melted gold bar from the pawn broker’s shop in Velachery.
Published – November 15, 2025 12:30 am IST
