Bandhan Bank robbery case: Manager arrested for faking loot

BARIPADA: Mayurbhanj police on Sunday cracked the Bandhan Bank robbery case by arresting three persons, including a manager of the bank, who allegedly plotted the loot. Police have seized the loot amount of Rs 3.4 lakh along with a car and a bike from their possessions. Bandhan Bank’s Doorstep Service Centre (DSC) Manager at Manitri, Bhajan Kar, Doorstep Banking Officer (DBO) Sitaram Sahu and receiver of loot money Braja Sekhar Pradhan have been produced in a local court and remanded in judicial custody after their bail pleas were rejected.

Mayurbhanj SP Awinash Kumar said technical clues gathered during the investigation helped crack the case and led to the arrest of the three, including two employees of the bank.The investigations revealed that Kar, a native of Sunarpur in South 24 Pargana district of West Bengal, had in fact orchestrated the crime in connivance with Sahu to misappropriate the amount.

On April 5, Sahu had lodged a complaint with Badasahi police regarding robbery of Rs 3.4 lakh at gun point while they were returning after collection of cash from Baripada branch office of Bandhan Bank. “Police had formed two teams to probe the case. Basing on the leads given by the teams and contradictions that came up during probe, we came to know that Kar and Sahu had plotted the crime,” Kumar said.

These two, the SP added, had conspired with Pradhan, a resident of Kalama village in Balasore district, to misappropriate the amount. Later, as per their game plan, Sahu appeared before police and narrated the previously hatched story to get the case registered against unknown accused.

Investigations revealed that sensing trouble, Kar had thrown his mobile phone into a river. But before that, police had successfully cracked the case by tracking the cell phone of Sahu.