Junu Sarmah. File photo

Six days after the murder of the woman bank official in the outskirts of Guwahati, Assam Police have confirmed loan mafias involvement in the killing. Police arrested two more persons Mantu Ali and another Saddam Hussain in connection with the murder on Monday. Altogether five persons were arrested by police.

The victim, Assistant Manager of Dadara branch of SBI Junu Sarmah, fell prey to the bullets of the loan mafias on October 9 as she had unearthed a huge scam involving crores of rupees in the branch.

Police on Sunday night arrested Putul Ali alias Saddam Hussain, Sunil Kumar Mishra and Pranab Kalita. Putul alias Saddam is a loan recovery agent, Mishra is an official of SBI’s Dadara branch. Pranab, who was detained by police for questioning after the incident, is a driver of the vehicle of bank official Sarmah.

This spine chilling incident took place at Agiathuri under Amingaon police station on the Guwahati outskirts when two-motorcycle borne undefined gunmen shot dead Junu Sarmah. Sarmah was on her way back home in Guwahati in a four-wheeler (no-AS-01AG-6869) from the bank when the incident took place. She was a resident of Nijarapar area in Chandmari of the city.

According to police a huge scam involving disbursement of loans to the farmers took place in the SBI Dadara branch. The accused bank official Sunil Kumar Mishra in connivance with agent Putul Ali siphoned off huge amount of money to the tune of crores of rupees while disbursing loans to the poor farmers under Hajo Revenue Circle in the name of Kisan Credit Card. Police investigation revealed that the farmers were not paid the actual amount sanctioned as loans, instead, the two accused used to keep a lion’s share of the loan amount without the knowledge of the farmers. The gullible farmers could not fathom the conspiracy hatched by the duo. They could realize it only after receiving bank notices for paying the premium for the rest of the amount.

Accused bank official Sunil Kumar Mishra was shunted to Guwahati from Dadara following allegations of embezzlement of money. After that victim Junu Sarmah was looking after the department for sanctioning loans. Late Sarmah unearthed the scam while she was looking after the files for replying to an RTI application.

Police suspect a big racket behind the scam and do not rule out the possibility of involvement of more persons in the murder.