Macabre scene in Odisha: Political heat over alleged harassment by bank officials; clarification issued
Bhubaneswar, April 28 (IANS) A tribal man bringing his sister’s skeleton to a bank in Keonjhar district on Monday to withdraw money from her account has shocked the country, with Opposition parties, the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and the Indian National Congress, criticising the Odisha government and calling the incident unfortunate and cruel.
Launching a scathing attack on the BJP government in the state, the BJD wrote on its X handle, “No one heeded the requests; the brother brought his sister’s body from beneath the soil. An unprecedented scene in the Chief Minister’s own district, crossing all limits of cruelty.”
Similarly, the Opposition Congress also targeted the state government calling the incident unfortunate and alleging harassment by the bank officials.
Taking to his X account, Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) president, Bhakta Charan Das said, “This is truly unfortunate. Such harassment by bank officials must stop.”
Notably, the Odisha Grameen Bank in a press statement denied any harassment in the incident that occurred at its Malliposi branch, Patna Block in Keonjhar district on Monday.
The bank informed that at around 11 A.M. on April 27, a person identified as Jitu Munda arrived at the Malliposi branch in an inebriated state and demanded to withdraw money from his sister Kalara Munda’s account.
The branch manager told him he was not entitled to withdraw the money as the account belonged to another individual, following which Jitu Munda began shouting.
The manager further tried to explain that only the account holder could visit the bank and withdraw the money, and that he was not authorised to do so on her behalf.
When asked about his sister, Jitu Munda initially said that she is in coma and could not come to the bank.
The Manager explained him that in such a stage the money cannot be withdrawn without the consent of the account holder, his sister, and in case of any mishappening, then after production of death proof/death certificate the account will be settled as per banks guidelines.
“Then suddenly the person named Jitu Munda left the bank while shouting that I will take the money definitely. Then after some time he came to the bank with a rotten dead body in a bag which was buried few days ago and put it in front of the bank and claimed that she is my sister and demanded money from her account,” informed the Odisha Grameen Bank.
–IANS
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