A casual complaint about the non-availability of lockers at the sporting arena in Bowring Institute led to a shocking discovery of cash, valuables, bank and land documents worth more than Rs 500 crore in three different lockers.

The discovery, while leaving the institute office bearers shocked, has opened up a Pandora’s Box of questions on the source of the money and valuables. Following a complaint by the club, the income tax officials seized the stash and began an investigation to ascertain the source of the money.

The club’s badminton and squash in-charge Sandeep, along with a few workers on Thursday broke open the lockers that had remained unused for a long time and stumbled upon the six zipper-locked bags stuffed in lockers numbered — 69, 71 and 78.

The staffers brought the issue to the notice of the institute’s secretary H S Srikanth. As it was late in the evening, the officials informed the police. “We could not do much as the lockers were opened late in the day. However, we found that they had some cash and informed the police for further action,” Srikanth told DH.

Refusing to take any chance, the institute authorities along with the police informed the income tax officials during which the denomination of stashed currency was revealed. “On opening the bags, the officials found Rs 2,000 currency notes and foreign currency worth Rs 3.73 crore and Rs 500 currency notes worth Rs 17 lakh,” said an official of the institute.

Seizing the six bags that were recovered from lockers, the I-T sleuths created an inventory of cash, diamonds valued between Rs 7 and 8 crore, 650 gm gold biscuits, two expensive watches together costing about Rs 50 lakh besides documents pertaining to land dealings around Devanahalli and Begur area on the outskirts of Bengaluru.”

This apart, the bag also contained blank cheques, undated cheques worth Rs 50 crore, Rs 30 crore, Rs 15 crore etc. “There was an entire chequebook completely blank with signatures,” according to Srikanth.

Meanwhile, the office bearers received an unusual request from one of their members who seemed to have been alarmed by the development at the institute. “A member named Avinash Amarlal Kukreja claimed that they were his bags. He (Avinash) pleaded that I handover documents while I could keep the money and other valuables or else his father would kill him,” Srikanth told DH.

After verifying with the institute’s records, Srikanth understood that Avinash was a member of Bowring Institute since 1993 besides holding the membership of the Bangalore Club. “While he was a frequent visitor to the Bangalore Club, he was hardly seen at Bowring. However, his mother Kiran Amarlal, along with her friends, regularly visited the Bowring Institute,” Srikanth revealed.