A tribal man in Odisha’s Keonjhar district brought his deceased sister’s skeleton to a bank to withdraw money from her account. After being repeatedly asked to bring the account holder despite her death, the illiterate man took this desperate measure. Police later intervened to resolve the issue and help him get the funds.
A tribal man in Odisha’s Keonjhar district on Monday brought the skeleton of his dead sister to a bank to withdraw the money deposited in her name, police said. The incident happened at the Odisha Grameen Bank branch in Maliposi, which is situated in the Patana block of the Keonjhar district. Jeetu Munda (50) of Dianali village was recognised as the man. He wanted to take out Rs 20,000 from the bank account of his older sister, Kalra Munda (56), who passed away due to sickness two months ago. She sold her livestock to raise the money.
Munda had gone to the bank a few days prior to take the money out because she had no other legal successor. But in order to complete the withdrawal, bank representatives requested that he provide a death certificate and other required paperwork.
Nevertheless, Munda dug up his sister’s skeleton remains from her grave since he could not provide the necessary structure.
Scroll to load tweet…
“I have run to the bank several times, and the people there told me to bring the account holder to withdraw money deposited in her name. Though I told them that she had died, they did not listen to me and insisted on bringing her to the bank. Therefore, out of frustration, I dug the grave and brought out her skeleton as proof of her death,” an illiterate Jeetu Munda told reporters.
Scroll to load tweet…
After receiving information, Inspector in charge (IIC) Kiran Prasad Sahu of the Patana Police Station arrived at the bank and declared, “Jeetu is an illiterate tribal man. He is unaware of the nominee or legal heir. The bank employees have not been able to explain to him how to take money out of the deceased person’s account.”
However, after the incident, the police assured Jeetu Munda that they would facilitate the withdrawal of money from the bank account of his dead sister. Later, the skeleton was again buried at the graveyard in the presence of the police.
The nominee in Kalra Munda’s account had also died. So Jeetu Munda was the only claimant for the money. The local administration has now directed the bank officials to make arrangements and ensure that Jeetu Munda gets the money as soon as possible.
As per banking rules in India, if a bank account has a nominee, the bank can give the money to that nominee easily. The nominee just needs to submit a claim form, the account holder’s death certificate, and their own ID proof. In such cases, no court papers or legal certificates are required.