Muzaffarpur, July 10: The branch manager of North Bihar Gramin Kshetriya Bank in Sarmastpur village under Paroo police station was found dead inside the bank under mysterious circumstances this evening.

Around 4pm, police found the body of manager Lal Bahadur Sinha, who was missing since yesterday, sprawled on the floor of the bank. Prima facie, he was either strangled to death or he committed suicide.

Muzaffarpur senior superintendent of police (SSP) Rajesh Kumar, who inspected the bank this evening, said Sinha might have committed suicide. “We recovered two small empty bottles of sleeping pills and a towel near the body. Sinha had been traceless for the last 24 hours. A missing diary had already been lodged with Paroo police station after he failed to turn up at the bank yesterday,” the officer said.

Sinha was supposed to distribute Rs 5 lakh among beneficiaries of Indira Awaas Yojana in Sarmastpur village yesterday. Investigations revealed that Sinha had withdrawn Rs 5 lakh from the Muzaffarpur branch of Central Bank of India and set out for Sarmastpur village.

However, he did not reach his branch and the bank remained closed yesterday, which, otherwise, is a working day. This fuelled speculation that Sinha might have been kidnapped.