Man takes sister’s skeletal remains to Odisha bank to prove her death — all for Rs 20,000

Frustrated over repeated denial by bank officials to withdraw the savings of his dead sister from a rural bank, a tribal man in Odisha’s Keonjhar district exhumed her skeletal remains “to prove that she died two months ago”.

The incident occurred at the Mallipasi branch of Odisha Grameen Bank under Keonjhar’s Patna block. Even before the bank started operation on Monday, 59-year-old Jitu Munda of Dianali village reached the bank branch carrying the skeletal remains in a plastic sack for around 3 km, placed it outside the bank branch, and demanded the release of Rs 20,000 deposited in her account.

Officials said Jitu’s elder sister, Kalra Munda, 62, died on January 26. Since she has no legal heir and has not nominated anyone, the bank officials reportedly refused to release her savings and told Jitu that the account holder must be present or the legal heir documents must be produced.

Distressed, Jitu took the extreme step, officials said.

On receiving information about the incident, the police immediately reached the bank branch, pacified him and told him to go to the tehsil office to get the legal heir certificate so he could withdraw the money. The police took away the skeletal remains and buried them again.

Inspector-in-charge of Patna police station, Kiran Prasad Sahu, said the man doesn’t know what a legal heir or nominee means as he is not educated. “The bank officials failed to make him understand the procedure to withdraw the money from the account,” said the officer.