India: Debt-hit manager loots bank, kills woman officer

Palghar - Accused apprehended by people from neighbourhood and handed over to the police.

Taking a page out of a crime thriller, a debt-ridden Axis Bank manager allegedly committed an unsuccessful heist on an ICICI Bank branch. He stabbed a woman branch officer to death and attempted to flee, before being caught by locals, police said on Friday.

The incident happened on Thursday around 8 pm, after banking hours at the ICICI Bank's Virar branch in suburban Mumbai, when most staffers had left for the day, barring two women officers.

"The prime accused Anil Dubey -- the Naigaon Axis Bank Branch manager, who is a former employee and ex-manager of the ICICI Bank, has been arrested. There is no other person involved as of now," Virar Police Station Senior Police Inspector Suresh Warade told IANS.

On the day of the incident, Dubey allegedly drove down to the ICICI Bank branch, entered inside, whipped out a sharp weapon and threatened the deputy manager Yogita Nishant Choudhary and her cashier colleague Shraddha Devrukhkar.

He ordered them to hand over all the cash and jewellery, which he dumped into a bag and attempted to flee the premises.

Unwilling to give up without a fight, the women started screaming for help and attempted to pin down Dubey, who retaliated by attacking them both with the knife several times before breaking free to run away.

By then, people from neighbouring shops had gathered. They managed to grab hold of Dubey, took the booty-filled bag and kept it in the ATM cabin and summoned the police.

As the cops entered the branch, they saw the two women lying in a pool of blood. Vartak, 36, who suffered gashes in the throat, shoulder and other parts of her body, succumbed to her injuries later.

Devrukhkar, 32, who was hit in the neck and shoulder, is undergoing treatment at a local hospital and further probe is on in the case, said Warade.

According to police, the accused Dubey had ostensibly run up huge debts of over Rs 10 million and may have resorted to the heist to clear off his dues, though details are not available.

Dubey had worked in several private banks, including with ICICI Bank for 15 months, but had piled up massive debts, indulged in some high-finance property purchases, allegedly through money he had siphoned off or through other irregularities.

• India