Lakhs of coins go missing in Union Bank of India branch of Paradip

PARADIP: Banks elsewhere in India have been in news for credit and loan scams. In this bank, lakhs of coins have gone missing sending bank officials into a tizzy.

A whopping Rs 14.86 lakh in coins of different denominations are found missing from Paradipgarh branch of Union Bank of India prompting the bank authorities to lodge a complaint with the local police. 

The matter came to fore during an internal audit of the branch on Tuesday. Mathematically speaking, the coins missing could run into a few lakhs - at least over 3 lakh in terms of number.

Santosh Kumar, who joined as branch manager on January 25 detected the discrepancy in number of coins of Rs 1, Rs 2 and Rs 5 denominations in the bank as per deposits between 2016 and 2020.

He checked with the internal audit team which corroborated the missing of coins. Kumar lodged an FIR in this regard at Paradip Lock police station against four staff, two of whom had served as managers of the branch. 

Paradip Lock IIC Pravash Sahoo said a case has been registered under sections 420, 409 and 34 of IPC against some staff who will soon be interrogated.

A police team will conduct a probe into the matter. Last month, Rs 2.61 crore was misappropriated from the bank’s Sadeipur branch within Balikuda police limits. The funds were allocations towards projects under Ama Gaon Ama Bikash scheme and Critical Grant Funds of the block.

When the Block Development Office sought a transaction statement on December 31, 2020, the alleged bungling was noticed.