The Punjab Vigilance Bureau (VB) has arrested Pramod Kumar, a former manager of Punjab Gramin Bank’s Bhano Langa branch in Kapurthala district, for embezzlement of Rs 34,92,299. A resident of Kundal village in Bikaner district, Rajasthan, said Pramod Kumar had been absconding since 2022 in this case.

Disclosing this here today, a spokesperson of the VB said the accused was wanted in a case registered under Section 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act and Section 409 of the Indian Penal Code at Sadar Police Station, Kapurthala.

He said during his tenure as branch manager, Pramod Kumar misused his authority and fraudulently accessed the user IDs and passwords of branch clerks Jagdish Singh and Rajni Bala. Using these credentials, he carried out 26 transactions to embezzle Rs 34,92,299 from the accounts of 12 different bank account holders.

The accused bank manager, out of the embezzled amount, had later deposited Rs 8,16,023 back into the accounts of five account holders in an attempt to cover up the fraud. Following an investigation, the charges were proved against him, and case was transferred to the VB.

The spokesperson added that Pramod was apprehended by the VB unit, Kapurthala, after intelligence inputs led to his location at his ancestral village in Kundal, in Bikaner district, Rajasthan. Further investigation into the case is underway, he said.