She Opened Bank Locker After A Year. Termites Ate 18 Lakh Cash She Stored

In a tragic incident, a woman from Uttar Pradesh lost cash worth Rs 18 lakh, which she had saved for her daughter's wedding, to termites in a bank locker.

Moradabad resident Alka Pathak had in October last year kept cash worth Rs 18 lakh in her locker at Bank of Baroda's Ashiana branch. Bank employees recently contacted her and asked her to visit the branch for the renewal of the locker agreement and to update her 'Know You Customer' details.

When Ms Pathak opened her locker to see if all is in order, she was devastated. The currency notes she had painstakingly saved up for her daughter's wedding had turned to dust after a termite attack.

Bank officials were shocked by the incident too. When the matter was reported widely and the media pressed them for answers, the bank staff said they had sent a report to the Bank of Baroda headquarters.

Ms Pathak has alleged that the bank officials are not sharing any info with her either. "If I don't get response and support from the bank, I will seek media's help to amplify the issue," she has said.

The latest rules brought by the Reserve Bank of India prohibit the storage of any cash in bank lockers.

The Bank of Baroda locker agreement states, "The license to use the Locker hereby granted is only for legitimate purposes such as storing of valuables like jewelry and documents but not for storing any cash or currency".

The bank's website states that it will be responsible for any loss of locker contents "caused by theft, burglary, or robbery". "The bank shall be liable to pay you 100 times the prevailing safe deposit locker annual rent. This compensation also applies in case of fire, building collapse, or fraud," it states.