A woman in Uttar Pradesh lost Rs 18 lakh to termites in a bank locker which she had saved for her daughter’s wedding.
Alka Pathak, a resident of Moradabad, kept cash totaling 18 lakh rupees in her locker at the Bank of Baroda’s Ashiana branch in October of last year. She was recently contacted by bank staff who urged her to come in to the branch to renew the locker agreement and to update her “Know You Customer” information.
Ms Pathak was devastated when she checked her locker to make sure everything was in order. The money she had meticulously saved for her daughter’s wedding had been destroyed by termites and reduced to dust.
When Ms. Pathak checked her locker to make sure everything was in order, she was devastated. She had carefully saved enough money for her daughter’s wedding, but termites had eaten through it and turned it to dust.
The Reserve Bank of India’s most recent regulations forbid the keeping of any cash in bank lockers.
“The licence to use the Locker hereby granted is only for legitimate purposes such as storing of valuables like jewellery and documents but not for storing any cash or currency,” the Bank of Baroda locker agreement reads.
According to the bank’s website, any loss of locker contents “caused by theft, burglary, or robbery” will be its responsibility. “The bank shall be obligated to pay you 100 times the current annual rent for a safe deposit box. It indicates that this compensation is also applicable in the event of a fire, building collapse, or fraud.