KARIMNAGAR: The authorities of the State Bank of India (SBI) are on the horns of a dilemma with regard to the `46.25 lakh burgled from its Choppadandi branch in this district on February 1 this year. It is neither able to get back the amount - found by the National Investigation Agency in a terrorist hideout in Burdwan in West Bengal -- nor able to claim insurance for the loss in the absence of the mandatory “Money Not Traced” certificate from the NIA or the local police.
It may be mentioned here that the bank heist had hit the national headlines in October this year following reports that the National Investigation Agency (NIA) had found a terror link to it. The NIA, which had raided the terrorist hideout in Burdwan in connection with a bomb blast in that town, had found several currency bundles there with the labels of the SBI Choppadandi branch. As the investigations into the blast case are still in progress, the NIA is unwilling to give any certificate to the SBI. The same is the stance of the local police.
Meanwhile, with the deadline for the submission of the “Money Not Traced” certificate by the bank authorities to the insurance company set to expire on December 15, the former are in quandary.
Admitting the bank’s plight, SBI Regional Manager P Krishna Murthy told Express here on Friday that the NIA officials had visited the bank a number of times in connection with their investigations. He said that the suspected terror link to the bank heist case had complicated matters and landed the bank in an unenviable situation.
Meanwhile, the SBI has beefed up the security at the Choppadnadi branch by appointing an armed guard to keep nightly vigil and installing additional CCTV cameras in strategic and inaccessible places. Burglars had gained entry into the premises on that fateful night by breaking a door on its rear side and had smashed the CCTV cameras before fleeing with the booty.