Ranchi, Aug. 21: Jitendra Kumar, the junior telecom officer of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), whose savings account with a private bank was cleaned out of Rs 2.78 lakh earlier this month, has been compensated.

Kumar told The Telegraph that ICICI Bank had refunded him the sum yesterday.

“I withdrew the money the moment it was transferred to my account,” he said.

The bank’s Lalpur branch manager Santosh Ranjan confirmed that the money had been transferred.

“The bank took this step, maybe the first in its history, in the interest of customers,” he said.

Earlier this month, the BSNL employee had lodged an FIR with the Lalpur police, accusing ICICI Bank chairman K.V. Kamath, senior manager, Lalpur, Nilesh Ranjan and Santosh Ranjan of misappropriation, after he found only Rs 48.69 in his joint account instead of Rs 2.78 lakh.

A cheque of Rs 1,000 Kumar issued on August 4 bounced, revealing this discrepancy.

The bank is planning to lodge an FIR against two persons it suspects.

Ranjan said preliminary investigations suggested that people close to Kumar having access to his ATM card number and PIN had pulled off the operation.

Ranjan said the swindlers were residents of Patna and possibly Kumar’s relatives.