M A I N   N E W S

Harassed cashier ends life
From Ruchika Mohindra
Tribune News Service

LUDHIANA, June 25 — Caste politics in a branch of the Punjab National Bank at Gumna Manak village in Phagwara tehsil is alleged to have forced a clerk-cum-cashier in the bank to end his life.

It is alleged that Mr Sat Pal Verma was often victimised and discriminated against by the bank manager and his other colleagues who belonged to a minority caste. But for Mr Verma things reached a point of no return on May 15. He was wrongfully rebuked by the branch manager, Mr Jagdish Mahi and other colleagues for being negligent in his duty and giving Rs 6500 in excess to a client by mistake.

This, in spite of the fact that the client, Mr Joga Ram, had earlier himself brought the matter to the notice of the branch manager with the intention of returning the money. But the branch manager had reportedly refused to accept the money back, allegedly with the intention of harassing the deceased and not wanting to miss an opportunity to snub him.

Mr Subhash Chander, son of the deceased alleges, “The manager of the branch, Mr. Jagdish Mahi and a gunman, Mr. Tarsem were not on good terms with my father and had always been finding reasons to harass him. My father used to tell that he was always being rebuked by the manager on flimsy ground due to casteism and had been under mental stress because of the wrongful behaviour of the manager and the gunman.”

He alleges that even four days prior to ending his life his father, after returning home to Ludhiana, had disclosed that the manager was unnecessarily harassing him and searching for opportunities to implicate him in some false case.

Sat Pal gave Rs. 6500 extra cash by mistake to a client Joga Ram on May 15 when he had come to withdraw the money from the bank. Joga Ram reportedly left the bank while still counting the currency notes. While he was standing outside, he realised that an extra payment of Rs 6500 had been made to him.

As Joga Ram was turning back to return the extra money to the deceased, he was apprehended by gunman, Tarsem, who allegedly directed Joga Ram to return the money back to the manager instead of Sat Pal. It is alleged that when Joga Ram went to the manager, Mr. Mahi, he refused to take the money and directed Joga Ram to take the money back to his house.

It was around 2:00 pm before he began public dealing again that Sat Pal discovered that his cash was short by Rs 6500. He recalled that the extra payment could have been made to Joga Ram and immediately reported the matter to the manager, who allegedly began insulting him and reprimanding him in public for this mistake.

Sat Pal then reportedly left the bank for Joga Ram’s house to get the money back after reaching there, Joga Ram told him about his meeting with the manager earlier. He then returned the Rs 6500 to the cashier. However, when Sat Pal reached the bank with the money, the manager and the gunman concocted a new story that he had snatched the money from Joga Ram’s wife and brought it back.

Sat Pal is then reported to have made a payment to the bank from his own account after that Joga Ram was reportedly summoned to the bank and forcibly given back the Rs 6500 that had been paid extra to him.

The humiliated clerk-cum-cashier is then alleged to have returned home to Ludhiana and is stated to have been in a state of shock for the entire night. He also reported to have narrated the previous day’s incident to his wife before he left for office at Gumna Manak village on the morning of May 16.

Once in the office, Sat Pal consumed sulphos tablets at around 11:00 am. It was then that a taxi was hired and he was rushed to a hospital in Phagwara along with the gunman Tarsem. The family of the cashier, however, was informed of the incident only at around 3:00 p.m. and that to by the doctor at the hospital. Later on, Sat Pal breathed his last and the family members in a state of shock and unaware of the reason behind this suicide gave their assent for the police case be registered under Section 174 of the IPC.

It was only around 15 days after the incident that the son of the deceased, Subhash went to Gumna Manak to settle his financial dues, where he met Joga Ram, who narrated the entire incident to him. Mr Subhash was also given a similar story by several other people in the village.

The family members of the deceased then approached the village panchayat which summoned Joga Ram and the taxi driver, Ranjit Singh, who had taken Mr Sat Pal to the hospital and had reportedly heard him say that, “Mahi Tu Mainu Laay Liya Hai”. Both these persons recorded their statement with the panchayat.

The family of the deceased has now sent complaints to the ADGP (crime) and SSP, Kapurthala, demanding that action be taken against the bank manager and gunman.

In spite of repeated attempts to contact the manager, Mr Mahi, at his residence at Phagwara, he was not available for comments.