Police have arrested an employee of Canara Bank in connection with a robbery at its branch in Bhabanibati, Samserganj, on May 10.

On that day, a fire had broken out at the branch, following which Rs 72 lakh in cash was found missing from the vault. All the money has since been recovered.
Jangipur police district officials arrested bank employee and Samserganj resident Manoj Kumar Sinha, 48, the following day on the basis of CCTV footage obtained from the branch.

Sinha was remanded in police custody.

“When the fire broke out on May 10, we were told that there were no cries of help and no one trapped in the branch as such. That had aroused our suspicion as to whether it was an inside job. So, we began interrogating all employees,” said a police officer.

“Sinha’s investigation had raised red flags even before we had the chance to see CCTV footage,” the officer added.

On Friday morning, police superintendent Bholanath Pandey held a news conference and said the vault keys were not supposed to be in the possession of an employee of Sinha’s grade.

“When we asked the manager about how Sinha was able to have the key, and thus unabated access into the vault, he said it was on a trust basis,” said Pandey.

“Still, we are investigating whether others, too, could have been involved,” he added.

Sources said a team led by Farakka subdivisional police officer Asim Khan had apprehended Sinha from Samserganj.

Bank manager Mukesh Kumar Barui said the keys had been entrusted to Sinha because of a temporary “workload”. “He betrayed our trust when we merely wanted a helping hand in the light of employee shortage,” said Barui.

Sinha was again produced in court on Friday and remanded in seven days’ judicial custody.