Tk 4.38 crore missing from Agrani Bank vault, two officials arrested

Allegations have emerged that Tk 4.38 crore has gone missing from the cash vault of Agrani Bank PLC's Laldighi East Corporate Branch in Chattogram. The incident occurred on August 10 but came to light on Thursday, August 13. The disappearance of a huge amount of customer deposits has caused turmoil within the bank.

The branch's General Manager Mostak Ahmed filed a case with Kotwali Police Station on August 10. The case named Cash-in-Charge Md Kamrul Hossain and Md Jafarullah Tanvir, along with several unidentified individuals. Police have arrested the two bank officials and sent them to jail through court.

According to the case's First Information Report (FIR), Kamrul Hossain was in charge of the branch's cash and vault. A discrepancy was detected on August 9 while reconciling the cash balance and the vault records after regular banking operations and transactions ended. Later, a review of the vault accounts, relevant records and documents revealed a shortage of Tk 4.38 crore. The FIR mentioned that Kamrul Hossain could not provide any satisfactory explanation for the shortfall.

Citing interrogation of Kamrul Hossain, the FIR further said that while depositing money in the vault, he would stuff Tk 100 or smaller denomination notes inside bundles of Tk 1,000 notes. As a result, from the outside, the bundles appeared to contain adequate money in the vault, but the actual amount of cash was significantly less.

According to the case, the money generated through this method was invested, under Jafarullah Tanvir's supervision, to set up a cattle farm named 'Ishrat Agro' in the North Burishchar area of Hathazari. The farm currently has 50 to 60 cattle of various breeds.

Kotwali Police Station Inspector (Investigation) Md Iqbal Hossain said the two accused named in the FIR have been arrested. Two mobile phones, WhatsApp communication records and a 64GB pen drive have been seized from them.

Police said the investigation is ongoing. The entire incident of embezzlement and whether anyone else is involved will be probed by examining the seized devices and documents and questioning those concerned.