POKHARA, June 21: Depositors have demanded that the management of Kailash Development Bank refund their stolen deposits as the money was withdrawn from their bank accounts using fake signature.
The depositors picketed the development bank’s Lamachaur branch office on Tuesday, demanding that their money is refunded at the earliest. They said that the management was dilly-dallying to refund their money even though it has already been two months since the money was withdrawn without their knowledge.
The money was withdrawn by Rabi Chandra Khanal, the then manager of Kailash Development Bank. The bank and the depositors knew about the withdrawal only after Khanal decamped with the money.
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The depositors are demanding that the bank should take responsibility for the misdeed conducted by its staffers. They have also demanded immediate release of seven employees who are in police custody in connection to the case.
Bank staffers Laxmi Kandel, Sushma Sharma, Dipika Koirala, Rabina Thapa, Righu Acharya, Sima Panta and Sivaram Adhikari are in police custody. They are believed to have withdrawn depositors’ money on Khanal’s instruction.
One of the depositors, Nabin Bhandari, said that the staffers should be investigated in a justifiable manner. “Senior staffers of the banks are involved in the case,” he added. Another depositor Kamal Bahadur Thapa said that the bank was yet to refund their deposits even though it had made commitment to return amount of victims.
Some of the lady staffers in police custody are reportedly pregnant.
Srijana Thapa, the sister in-law of bank staffer Rabina, who is in police custody, said Rabina has been arrested without giving any notice. Another victim Sonij Gurung said Rs 1.9 million has disappeared from his father’s bank account.
Meanwhile, the two-hour meeting between bank management and local representative of wards 16 and 19 of Pokhara-Lekhnath Municipality held on Tuesday concluded without fruition. “Bank officials just told us that everything will be okay. As we were not get satisfied with their answers, we left the meeting midway,” depositor Bhandari said.
Surya Prasad Tiwari, assistant manager of the bank, said the meeting could not take any decision after the depositors left the meeting mid way.
