Rs 45 lakh stolen from J

Jammu, Aug 18 (UNI) An amount of Rs 45 lakh was stolen by some unidentified miscreants under mysterious circumstances from the Surnakote branch of Jammu and Kashmir Bank in Poonch district, official sources said here today.

''According to the bank authorities, the amount of Rs 45 lakh was stolen last night from an almirah of which they came to know today morning on reaching the bank,'' SDPO, Surankote DySP Pradeep Singh Parihar told UNI.

Mr Parihar said the circumstances under which the theft took place, involvement of any of the bank employees cannot be ruled out.

''The file almirah was not broken nor there were any vital clues available to apprehend the accused on the grounds of suspicion but the crime scene pointed participation of internal sources,'' he said.

''As per norms, any of the banks under standing operating procedure, is not allowed to keep amount exceeding Rs 10 lakh in the bank at the time of closure but the amount stolen was big one and not even kept in bank lockers, which hints at some planned conspiracy,'' the police officer added.

A case under section 379 RPC has been registered at Surankote police station while some of the bank employees are also being questioned and investigations were on, he asserted.

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