SBI Customers Protest Inside Branch in Telangana, Cook and Eat Food Demanding Return of their Gold
Telangana: Customers protested inside the SBI branch in Chennur, Telangana in a unique way. Customers cooked food and ate it inside the premises of the State Bank of India (SBI) Chennur branch on Monday to protest against the delay in the return of their gold and silver ornaments.
The customers alleged that they were cheated after pledging their gold and silver ornaments with the bank. They claimed that some bank employees had misappropriated the pledged ornaments. Although the police recovered some of the stolen ornaments, SBI officials have not returned them to the customers, citing banking procedures and rules.
The protesters demanded that the bank should take immediate steps to return their ornaments and ensure justice for the affected customers.
The aggrieved customers said that they had no option but to approach the bank and stage a protest to reclaim their valuables. They warned that they would continue and intensify their agitation until their pledged ornaments were returned.
What is the Gold Fraud Case?
As per reports, last year, around 21 kg of gold was misappropriated by bank staff in Chennur. In August last year, police arrested 47 people, including a cashier, a manager, and an attender of the SBI Chennur branch. During the investigation, police recovered 15.237 kilograms of gold ornaments and ₹1.61 crore in cash from the accused. The fraud came to light during an internal audit conducted by the bank.
This loan was given against gold pledged by customers. When a customer takes a gold loan, the bank keeps the customer’s gold in a secure cash vault. The cashier and the officer/manager have access to the vault. The vault can be opened only when both of them use their keys together.
According to the police, the main accused, cashier Narige Ravinder, confessed that he took the help of branch manager Manohar and attender Sandeep in carrying out the fraud. He admitted that after losing ₹40 lakh on online cricket betting platforms in 2024, he pledged gold ornaments at various lending institutions and obtained 142 loans using the names of 44 people from Mancherial. More than 400 customers had pledged their gold ornaments with the SBI branch to avail loans.
Now, customers are protesting inside the bank to get back their gold.
