# Rats chew through ₹1.2 crore in cash saved for gold 2026-08-24T12:29:00+00:00 | India | Indian Opinion Desk Corroboration: 1 independent outlet A woman in Bihar’s Siwan district lost her entire savings of ₹1.2 crore after rats chewed through the stacks of cash she had stored at home. The money, accumulated over several years, was meant to buy gold. According to reports, the woman had kept the currency notes in a trunk, which rats gnawed through over time, reducing most of the notes to shreds. She discovered the damage when she opened the trunk to purchase gold ahead of a family wedding. The shredded notes are now unusable, and the family has approached the local police for help. Officials say only a fraction of the cash may be salvageable if the notes are intact enough to be exchanged at a bank. ## Indian Opinion Analysis This incident highlights the risks of storing large sums of cash at home, especially in rural areas where banking access is limited. The Reserve Bank of India has clear guidelines on exchanging mutilated notes, but only if more than 80% of the note is identifiable. In this case, most notes are shredded beyond recognition, making recovery unlikely. The family will now have to rely on police documentation to approach the bank, but no precedent exists for compensation in such cases. The real cost is the lost opportunity: at current gold prices, ₹1.2 crore could have bought over 2 kg of gold, which would have held its value. The case is a reminder of why the government's push for financial inclusion and cashless transactions matters. The next step is a bank inspection, which could take weeks. ## Coverage - gulfnews.com Straight account of a theft-by-rats incident with no editorialising or blame This story was synthesised by AI from the source linked above. Tags: Bihar, RBI, Siwan Canonical: https://indianopinion.org/rats-chew-through-rs1-2-crore-in-cash-saved-for-gold/ License: Summary and commentary (c) Indian Opinion, reusable with attribution. Facts belong to the linked sources. Cite: https://indianopinion.org/rats-chew-through-rs1-2-crore-in-cash-saved-for-gold/#story-in-brief Review state: restored archive article, accurate at time of publication, not offered to search indexes. How this brief was made: an AI model read the report linked above and wrote this summary and analysis, which were published automatically. Published briefs are sampled every hour by an automated quality check; the editor verifies its findings and approves corrections, and corrected briefs carry a dated correction line. We do no original reporting. Methodology: https://indianopinion.org/ai-use-policy/