Kerala Crime Branch arrests main accused in swindling case

The Kerala Crime Branch on Wednesday arrested the prime accused bank manager for allegedly swindling over Rs 12 crore from several accounts of the Punjab National Bank branch here.

The sleuths have arrested former senior manager, M P Rijil, from Chathamangalam near here.

''His arrest was recorded. He was nabbed from a hideout near here,'' a senior crime branch official told PTI.

The fraud came to light last month when the Kozhikode Corporation found huge sums of money missing from its various accounts in the PNB branch.

The District Crime Branch has been probing the case in which over Rs 12 crore has been swindled from several accounts including that of the Kozhikode Corporation in a PNB here.

Initially, the civic body believed that the swindled amount was over Rs 15 crore, but subsequently, its audits revealed that Rs 12.68 crore was missing from its accounts in the bank.

Besides the local body, around Rs 18 lakh was also stolen, allegedly by the former bank manager, from the account of a private individual.

The Crime Branch investigation had revealed that most of the money -- around Rs 10 crore -- was invested in the stock market by the accused and the same was lost. Of the remaining, the accused is suspected to have used it for online rummy games.