Bhubaneswar, March 22: The branch manager of a nationalised bank at Konark in Puri district suffered serious injuries after an unidentified youth had stabbed him, police said today.

A probe into the incident, which took place inside the bank branch at Konark yesterday, began with the police scanning the CCTV footage of the attack.

The police suspect past enmity behind the attack on Sanat Kumar Sahoo, the branch manager, who is undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Bhubaneswar.

“We are examining the CCTV footage and waiting for the victim’s statement,” said inspector of Konark police station Babita Sahoo. She said the assailant was wearing a cap, which was making the identification a difficult task.

The CCTV footage shows the criminal to be around 25 years of age. He entered the branch at 5.30pm and made inquiries about applying for an ATM card. Though bank officials helped him filling in the required forms, the man made wrong entries thrice, perhaps to gain time to plan the attack.

Around 6pm when Sanat was in his chamber, along with the assistant branch manager, a woman and a peon, the youth entered the room. He then whipped out a toy gun and aimed it at the manager’s head. When the branch manager realised that it was a toy gun, he snatched it away from him. Then the youth took out a dagger from his bag and attacked Sanat.

“It all happened quickly. The branch manager was stabbed in the chest,” said a police officer.

The offender escaped towards Konark market on a motorcycle.

“Since the bank’s business hours were over, it seems that the youth had come with the intention of attacking the manager at a time when there would be a few people in the bank,” said a police officer.

A profusely bleeding Sanat was rushed to the nearest hospital and later shifted to Bhubaneswar. Sanat, a native of Bargarh district, had joined as manger at the Konark branch of the bank in September last year. The police said he had previously worked in the same bank at Bhubaneswar.