The culprits, who include none other than the bank manager of the branch and four others have been caught. This branch was closed in March after allegations of duping people of the township of crores of rupees.

Dera Bassi Deputy Superintendent of Police H.S.Bhullar said that on the intervening night of November 27-28, around 10 pm, the branch manager, Lt Col (retd) Harkirpal Singh Sidhu, along with five others came to the shop and broke open the locks, put by the landlord, as they had not paid the rent. They had come in a Maruti car bearing registration number HR-03A-5040 and a jeep, and started loading their belongings in the vehicles. But a neighbour, Manjeet Singh, informed the landlady. The landlady, Daljit Kaur, reached the spot along with her husband and son, but by then the branch manager and his accomplices had already fled, leaving certain things behind.

Lt Col (retd) Harkirpal Singh Sidhu of Sector 16, Panchkula, was working as the branch manager since 1997 till the branch was closed down on March 12. Since then, neither has the company paid the rent of the premises or paid back the investors.

On the complaint of the landlady, the police registered a case under Sections 457, 380 and 511 at the Dera Bassi Police Station. The DSP said that police raided various places and caught Lt Col H.S.Sidhu, Captain (retd) Karnail Singh, who was working in the Roopnagar branch of the company, along with Vinod Kumar, Karan and Rashid. The car and jeep were also recovered from their possession.