GUJRAT, Dec 15: The Dinga police have failed to arrest a bank manager, who had absconded with millions of rupees he had fraudently drawn from the accounts of various clients. Though there are varying claims about the amount embezzled by the manager, the bank management says Nazir Ahmad had fled with Rs11.7 million. Sources in the bank, however, put the figure around Rs40 million.

The irregularity came to surface when the high-ups of My Bank (previously called Bolan Bank), on suspicion, ordered a probe against Nazir Ahmad in the third week of November.

The investigators scrutinized the entire record and found massive bungling by the manager who, they said, regularly drew cash from various accounts through bogus cheques. Sources said the manager drew Rs5.4 million from Dr Safdar Mahmood’s account alone.

It was also disclosed that the bank in-charge did not register the amounts deposited by many account-holders.

The audit team informed the bank higher authorities about the matter after which Nazir Ahmad was removed and replaced by Sagheer Ahmad on Nov 26. When the suspect remained absent from the head office, the general manager got registered a case of Rs11.7 million fraud against him with the Dinga police on Dec 12.

After hearing the news, account-holders rushed to the bank to know the fate of their money. Many of them were shocked to learn that the bank management did not record entries of the amounts they had recently deposited.

Advocate Mazhar Noor, Azam Chauhan, Muhammad Rasheed and Sajid Jehangir Rao were informed by the staff that the bank record did not contain deposits of their Rs1 million, Rs1 million, Rs2.5 million and Rs3.2 million, respectively. The victims, however, claimed that they had counterfoils to substantiate their claims.

Agitated by the episode, the affected people have protested against the bank management and demanded that the higher authorities should make payments to them immediately. They lashed out at the bank authorities for letting the suspect off the hook.

The bank management assured the account-holders (who claimed having proof of deposits) that their money would be given to them.

Meanwhile, the Dinga police have not arrested the suspect even three days after registration of a case. A police spokesman said raids were being conducted for the arrest of the absconder.