Tk 45 lakh went missing from the cash counter of the Janata Bank's branch at Batamore in Joypurhat town yesterday noon.

“Officials of this branch brought out the money from the bank's vault and put them into black bags to send it to Sonali Bank's Joypurhat Sadar branch today [Tuesday]. They were preparing for going to Sonali Bank and the bags containing the money were being put into a trunk at noon. That time they found a bag containing Tk 45 lakh missing,” said Shah Alam, manager of the branch.

“Three cashiers of the branch -- Raihan Ali Zaman, Saiful Islam and Mir Mahbub Hasan brought the money out of the vault. CCTV footage shows that three to four people posing as customers came to the bank, entered inside the cash counter and silently left the bank after taking the black bag containing money,” the manager said.

The bank officials informed the police of the money missing incident and a team led by Joypurhat Superintendent of Police (SP) Rashidul Hasan visited the bank.

“Police got the footages of CCTV cameras and examining it. They have already started operations to recover the missing money,” the SP said.

Police detained Raihan Ali Zaman, cashier of the bank, and its peon Amanat Hossain for interrogation.