21 August,2026 07:33 AM IST | Mumbai | Samiullah Khan
Kuldeep Ramchandra Sahani (in black hood), 35, in the custody of the Kandivli police. Pic/By Special Arrangement
A former bank manager, Kuldeep Ramchandra Sahani, 35 allegedly used the proceeds from gold jewellery he stole from bank lockers to open a government-authorised liquor shop in Uttar Pradesh's Gorakhpur district.
Sahani allegedly targeted senior citizens and non-resident Indians (NRIs), who he believed were less likely to check their lockers regularly. The police have arrested Sahani after tracing nearly Rs 9 crore in transactions in his bank accounts and recovered all of the complainant's jewellery within four days of launching the investigation.
According to police sources, the case came to light after Pradeep Motiram Bhatia, 74, a retired professional who has been living in Dubai with his family for nearly 52 years, returned to Mumbai and visited the bank branch in Kandivli West, to collect the gold ornaments he had stored in his locker.
[popcorn number="610 grams" desc="Weight of gold allegedly stolen by accused" class="Default"]
Bhatia had deposited around 610 grams of gold jewellery, valued at Rs 81.80 lakh, in the locker on March 22, 2024, before returning to Dubai. When he came back nearly two years later, he allegedly discovered that the jewellery had disappeared. Following his complaint, the Kandivli police registered a case under Section 316(5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
The accused admitted to removing and pledging the jewellery, following which he was arrested. Representation Pic/iStock
The investigation allegedly revealed that Sahani had pledged gold ornaments with some of these establishments. The police obtained details and photographs of the jewellery pledged by the accused. When the photographs were shown to Bhatia, he allegedly identified them as the same ornaments he had kept in his bank locker. According to a police officer involved in the investigation, Sahani subsequently admitted to removing and pledging the jewellery, following which he was arrested.
Investigators suspect that Sahani deliberately selected lockers belonging to people who were less likely to check them frequently. Police believe that while working as a bank manager, he became aware that customers often kept valuable jewellery in lockers for years without receiving any financial returns from it. The accused allegedly developed a plan to remove such jewellery, pledge it with gold-loan or finance establishments, raise money and use the funds for his own purposes. Police suspect that NRIs and senior citizens were particularly attractive targets, as they may visit their lockers less frequently than other customers.
Since the alleged theft had taken place nearly two years earlier, investigators could not rely heavily on technical evidence. The police examined the details of employees who had access to the locker-related process and obtained their KYC documents and banking information. During this exercise, investigators came across bank accounts linked to Sahani.
The investigation was conducted under the guidance of police chief Deven Bharti, ACP Shashi Kumar Meena, DCP Sandeep Ghuge, and ACP Santosh Dhanwate. Kandivli Senior Inspector Karan Sonkawade supervised the probe, while API Deepak Kadbane of the Kandivli Police Cyber Cell led the investigation.
The investigation has now widened to determine whether the accused allegedly targeted other lockers in a similar manner. "Sahani left his job at the bank in 2025. Given his alleged modus operandi, we are examining whether other customers could have been affected during his tenure," said a police officer. Police have informed the bank about their concerns and asked it to cooperate in checking lockers held by customers. Locker holders are being contacted and cops are examining whether their jewellery is intact. Investigators are also probing the accused's financial activities and the utilisation of the money raised by pledging the jewellery.
When Sahani's statements were scrutinised, police found transactions totalling nearly R9 crore over about two years. Investigators noticed that a substantial number of transactions involved private finance companies, banks, gold-loan establishments and jewellers. Police haved traced the entities involved in these transactions using their KYC details and questioned representatives of the banks, finance companies, and jewellery establishments.
Sahani was born and brought up in Mumbai but is originally from Gorakhpur district in UP. Investigators are now trying to establish whether the money raised by pledging the allegedly stolen jewellery was used to finance or establish the liquor business, or for other purposes.
A person from the banking industry who spoke on the condition of anonymity said, "As a general rule, banks do not guarantee or insure the value of jewellery, valuables or other items kept in safe-deposit lockers, primarily because the bank does not know what the customer has placed inside the locker or what those contents are worth. That, however, does not absolve the bank of its responsibility to provide adequate security and follow prescribed locker procedures."
The gold recovered from Kuldeep Ramchandra Sahani. Pic/By Special Arrangement
Since the bank charges the customer for the locker facility, it has a duty to ensure reasonable safety, according to the expert. "If a loss occurs due to the bank's negligence, fraud, misconduct, security lapse or the involvement of its employees, the bank can be held liable under applicable rules and law. Under the Reserve Bank of India framework, such liability is generally capped at 100 times the annual locker rent. This, however, remains a contentious issue because the contents of a locker may have not only monetary value but also significant emotional or sentimental value for the customer.
For instance, inherited jewellery or family documents may be impossible to replace merely through monetary compensation. Therefore, while banks cannot be expected to insure the contents of every locker, they cannot completely escape responsibility when the loss is attributable to their own negligence or security failure."
