Bank manager spent Rs 8 cr swindled from Kozhikode Corp a/cs on online games

Kozhikode: M P Rijil, the manager of Punjab National Bank’s Eranjipalam branch, who allegedly swindled Rs 14.72 crore from the Kozhikode Municipal Corporation's accounts, is learnt to have used it to play online games and to invest in stocks. He spent Rs 8 crore on online games, sources said.

Police have confirmed that Rijil misused his authority and even manipulated the bank documents to hide the irregularities.

According to police, Rijil first transferred the money to his father's account in small deposits. Later, he moved it all to his personal account.

Rijil tampered with the documents while transferring the money to his father's account. He purposefully omitted the part where it is required to mention the source of the money being transferred, sources said.

The probe has been handed over to the District Crime Branch.

The Corporation confirmed on Thursday that Rs 10.5 crore from the Kudumbashree account had been stolen in addition to Rs 1.89 crore from the three accounts of the MP-MLA fund, AMRUT office renovation fund, and non-biodegradable waste disposal fund.

The transactions of such huge amounts, carried out without the Corporation’s knowledge, were detected while scrutinising the statements of different accounts.

The bank has returned to the civic body Rs 2.53 crore, which was initially considered to have been lost.

According to police, Rijil is still at large and the search for him has been intensified.