Gujarat bank checked its locker, found the gold in place. It was all fake

On September 3, Jamnagar police informed the Indian Bank’s Ranjitsagar Road branch that they believed gold jewellery worth several lakhs of rupees had been stolen from its lockers. The bank officials were in disbelief since the vault containing the lockers requires a two-person authorisation for access.

After checking, the bank officials found the mortgaged ornaments still in place. But when they called in their jeweller for inspection, the ornaments in a locker turned out to be fake. The gold collateral — mangalsutras, necklaces, rings, earrings and pendants that collectively weighed 342.10 grams and were worth Rs39.48 lakh — had been swapped with fake ornaments.

Branch Manager Hemraj Narendrakumar Gajra filed a police complaint against the theft on September 3. According to the FIR, bank peon Hasmukh Dinesh Pariya stole the vault keys between 10 am and 6 pm on August 27 and stole the gold jewellery worth Rs 39.48 lakh, replacing it with duplicate ornaments." As per the two-person authorisation protocol, police said, the vault containing the lockers could only be opened using two keys, both of which were in the possession of two bank officials.

Speaking to The Indian Express, Inspector VM Dodiya of Jamnagar A Division police station said, "The vault opens with two keys. One stays with the branch manager and the other with his deputy. Since the deputy was on leave, the branch manager had possession of both keys… He may have stepped out of his office for some work when the peon stole the keys." "The peon was aware that one person would have had both keys if the other was on leave, since he had been working at the bank for 15 years," said Inspector Dodiya.

The investigator said that Hasmukh Pariya replaced the stolen jewellery with some fake ornaments to make sure that if anyone checked, they would be reassured of their presence. On his motive, PI VM Dodiya claimed that Pariya used to dabble in the stock market, especially options trading, losing money in the process, which was why he decided to steal the jewellery.

The Jamnagar police have since arrested two of the three individuals booked for the theft. Bank peon Hasmukh Dinesh Pariya, 35, is accused of stealing the jewellery and replacing it with fakes. Vijay Ala Vaghora is accused of trying to sell the jewellery on the black market.

He has seven FIRs against him in five districts. When the two accused were arrested, the police seized 17.040 grams of gold worth Rs 1.91 lakh from them. It was only after they received their remand from the court that the police recovered the other 330.05 grams of jewellery worth Rs 38.55 lakh and cash amounting to Rs2.60 lakh.

In total, the police seized 347.09 grams of gold worth Rs 40.46 lakh, which was more than what was reported by the bank. Efforts remain underway to apprehend the third accused, Ramesh Bhimji Pariya. According to data tabled in the Indian Parliament in the monsoon session in July 2026, Indian Bank is the seventh largest Public Sector Bank (PSB) in the country, reporting 9.49 crore customers in 2025-2026.

Brendan Dabhi works with The Indian Express, focusing his comprehensive reporting primarily on Gujarat. He covers the region's most critical social, legal, and administrative sectors, notably specializing at the intersection of health, social justice, and disasters.

Expertise Health and Public Policy: He has deep expertise in healthcare issues, including rare diseases, Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR), the complex logistics of organ transplants, and public health challenges like drug-resistant TB and heat health surveillance.

His on-ground reporting during the COVID-19 pandemic and Mucormycosis was critical in exposing healthcare challenges faced by marginalized communities in Gujarat. Social Justice and Legal Administration: He reports on the functioning of the legal and police system, including the impact of judicial philosophy, forensics and crucial administrative reforms (.

He covers major surveillance and crackdown exercises by the Gujarat police and security on the international border. Disaster and Crisis Management: His work closely tracks how government and civic bodies respond to large-scale crises, providing essential coverage on the human and administrative fallout of disasters including cyclones, floods, conflict, major fires and reported extensively on the AI 171 crash in Ahmedabad.

Civic Infrastructure and Governance: Provides timely reports on critical civic failures, including large scale infrastructure projects by the railways and civic bodies, as well as the enforcement of municipal regulations and their impact on residents and heritage.

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