An employee of the Baguiati branch of the State Bank of India allegedly fled with Rs 25 lakh from the bank's coffers on Tuesday afternoon.

The accused, Sumanta Sarkar, is a cashier in the branch. Police said Rs 24,87,000 was deposited to him under various heads on Tuesday.

He allegedly left the bank in the afternoon without depositing the money in the vault. Police said Sarkar, a resident of Madhyamgram, had told the branch manager before leaving that his brother had met with an accident.

The manager realised that close to Rs 25 lakh was missing while taking stock of cash in the evening.

"We received a complaint on Tuesday night. While scanning CCTV footage we saw Sarkar was putting the money in a bag. He is absconding. We are trying to track him down," said Kankar Prasad Barui, deputy commissioner, detective department, Bidhannagar commissionerate.

The police said they had found out that Sarkar had called his brother on Tuesday and asked him to take away his motorcycle from the bank.

Sarkar, an SBI employee for four years, was posted in Asansol before joining the Baguiati branch. "An Asansol woman Sarkar was allegedly close to is missing,"an officer said.

An alert has been issued to all border outposts, airports and train stations.