Thiruvananthapuram, Dec 5 (IANS): A suspended Punjab National Bank (PNB) official, presently on the run after a multi-crore fraud surfaced, in his anticipatory bail plea filed before a lower court in Kozhikode on Monday said one person alone cannot do this and a comprehensive probe should be launched.

The fraud has been detected at the Railway Station Link Road branch of PNB.

The scam surfaced on November 29 when the Kozhikode Corporation which has multiple accounts with the PNB realised that crores of rupees have been swindled from its accounts. It became apparent when M.P. Rijin, a top PNB bank official at Kozhikode, went on the run and has not been traced till now.

After a preliminary probe by the Crime Branch, the prosecution informed the court that around Rs 21 crores is missing, of which the Corporation alone has lost around Rs 10 crores.

The court was hearing Rijin's anticipatory bail plea and in his affidavit it was alleged that there is a big conspiracy behind this swindle.

He pointed out that all this just cannot be done by one person and the involvement of officials from the PNB and the Corporation should also be looked into.

He said that just one person alone cannot withdraw money as there is a three layer checking process in the bank.

The court posted the next hearing on the bail plea for Thursday.

The Corporation is ruled by the CPI-M and the party secretary P. Mohanan said things are going from bad to worse and every last rupee of the Corporation which has been swindled has to be given back. If it is not done they will launch a massive protest and if need be, they will not allow the PNB to function.