- Sat, 31 Jul, 2010, 2:24 am -

Daltonganj/Ranchi: The Main Branch of State Bank of India (SBI) at Kutchery in Daltonganj was practically reduced to ashes. Three fire tenders fought to bring the blazing inferno for hours but the end result was not too encouraging for the branch as it had been nearly powdered to Ashes by that time.

The State Bank of India (SBI) branch of Daltangunj in Palamu district of Jharkhand, about 195 km northwest of Ranchi, on Wednesday evening, March 10, 2010, has totally burned down due to suspect short circuit. The fire tenders were trying their best to extinguished the fire almost burned to ashes. Picture : Saiket Chatterjee (Palamu, Jharkhand).

According to eyewitnesses the fire broke out at the two ATMs of the Bank situated on the ground floor of the two storied building and spread to the main branch within minutes even before the alarm could be raised.

The entire cash amounting to lakhs of Rupees in the ATMs was burnt to ashes and the wooden furniture and interiors of the bank along with entire documents went up in the inferno. The only salvaging point was the strong vault containing the currency which seemingly was intact.

Though the exact amount of the loss could not be ascertained immediately, it is presumed that property and currency worth crores of Rupees had gone up in flames.

The surprising aspect however is that no Bank official was present at the site even hours after the news of fire broke out. Even the cell phones of the Bank District official were on switched off mode.

The police and the Fire department were busy ascertaining the cause behind the fire. Local politicians were busy making statements politicizing the incident. Some were seen mumbling that the entire operation was the handiwork of naxalites opposing the Operation Green Hunt. None of the allegations however were confirmed or ruled out.