Cash, Gold Worth Rs 1.59 Crore Found in School Lockers

Cash worth Rs 1 crore and gold bars estimated Rs 59 lakh were found in unused staff lockers of Kendriya Vidyalaya situated on ONGC campus in Chandkheda area, police said today.

The incident occurred yesterday when a cleanliness drive was being conducted under school principal Awadhesh Kumar.

"While cleaning, Kumar and his staff spotted a locker stack in teachers' room, which was lying unused and gathering dust. Kumar asked his staff to open each locker to clean them. Out of 20-odd lockers, staff could not find keys of five lockers," said Chandkheda police inspector KK Desai.

Mr Kumar then ordered his staff to break these lockers open and found one bag each from two lockers, he said.

"They found Rs 1 crore cash from one bag and 21 gold bars of 100 grams each from another bag (in another locker). Since no one was ready to claim these bags, the principal informed us," the police inspector said, adding police seized the unclaimed cash and gold collectively worth Rs 1.59 crore.

According to police, these lockers have been given randomly to teachers and to other staff members to store their belongings. However, there was no record available about who possessed which locker.

"Kumar claims that he joined as principal two years back and these lockers were never used during his tenure. We have questioned many staff members and teachers, but we are still unable to trace the person who put those bags into these lockers," Inspector Desai said, adding that he has informed the Income Tax department to probe any tax-related angle.