Punjab National Bank heist: Cops suspect others behind Marimuthu death

Pudukkottai: The recovery of the decomposed body of Marimuthu, office assistant of the nationalised Punjab National Bank (PNB) branch here, who was suspected to be the brain behind the robbery of a large quantity of pledged jewels from the bank locker, from Manalmelgudi -Kodiyakarai coast in Pudukkottai district on Friday, took a new turn on Saturday. It has raised suspicion about whether somebody else might be involved in the crime.

It might be recalled that the incident came to light when the employees of the bank came to open the bank on Monday, when they were shocked to notice that the jewels kept in the locker and the computer discs were found missing.

Police during their initial investigation stumbled on a half-burnt car of Marimuthu at Vallathirakkottai near Pudukkottai on Tuesday, and seized half burnt computer discs of the bank, besides a large quantity of imitation jewellery from the car.

Police suspected something fishy as even after six days, the bank authorities had not file any complaint with the police. However, that suspicion was belied as branch manager of the bank gave a complaint to the police on Saturday stating that 13.75-kg of pledged jewels are missing from the bank locker.

Based on this complaint police are now investigating. Meanwhile, the PNB branch has started working, to the relief of its customers.