Hyderabad: An octogenarian had a providential escape after he was unwittingly kept overnight in a locker room of the Union Bank’s branch near Jubilee Hills Checkpost.
V Krishna Reddy, 89, resident of Jubilee Hills, had been to the bank on Monday evening. He entered the locker room to check the deposits in his locker. A while later, unmindful of his presence, the bank staff pushed the heavy steel door closed. They locked it as usual and left the bank. The bank premises remained closed till the morning next day.
He was discovered lying on the floor in the locker room on Tuesday morning when, after some fuss, the bank staff opened the locker door at 10.30 am. In the morning, one of the bank employees recalled that an old man had been allowed to go into the locker room on Monday evening. Then, the staff went to check this out.
Krishna Reddy, a diabetic, was taken to a nearby hospital by the Jubilee Hills police for an urgent check-up. Later, his family came and took him home.
The Jubilee Hills police said that, meanwhile, a missing person case was filed by the family. “The case will now be closed. But we will book cases under Sections 336, and 342 of the IPC against the bank staff,” inspector Rajasekhar Reddy said.
Police said the bank’s assistant manager closed the locker room. On Tuesday, family members along with the police went to the bank to check if the bank’s CCTV cameras had any record of his movements.
The bank’s manager, Muralimohan Reddy said he was asked by top bank officials to avoid talking to the media. Inquires revealed that the bank’s assistant manager, a woman, had allowed Krishna Reddy into the locker room around 4.45pm on Monday. She recalled about this on Tuesday morning when a fuss was already on. Then, the staff rushed to the locker and opened its heavy steel door only to find Krishna Reddy lying on the floor.
“Had she not remembered, the locker door would not have been opened today. And fortunately, she came to work today, when the nationwide bank strike was on,” a bank staffer confided.
Murali Mohan Reddy later told a television channel that following the general strike since Monday, most of the bank’s regular staff were absent and it was “some alternate staff” that had shut down the premises at the end of the day.
What Sections 336, 342 of IPC say:
336 – Act endangering life or personal safety of others. Punishment can be imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to three months, or with fine which may extend to Rs 250, or with both.
342 – Punishment for wrongful confinement.— Can be imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to one year, or with fine which may extend to Rs 1000, or with both.
…
