Bank manager stabbed by colleague

TT, Calcutta, April 11: A branch manager's screams brought bank employees rushing to her chamber to find her bloodied in her chair yesterday afternoon, a butcher's knife lying on the floor.

By then, assistant branch manager Shantimoy Dutta Gupta, accused of attacking Nupur Bhattacharya, 57, had rushed out of the Union Bank office into a crowded R.N. Mukherjee Road, Dalhousie.

He then allegedly jumped in front of at least three passing cars, all of which managed to evade him, before being captured and handed over to Hare Street police.

Officers said Dutta Gupta, 57, had claimed he felt "taunted and bullied" by his boss. Bhattacharya is being treated for multiple wounds at Calcutta Medical College and Hospital but will not need surgery, doctors said.She has wounds on both arms including a cut on a tendon in her left arm, three cuts on her head that needed stitches, and a deep gash on her left cheek.

Her husband Bhaskar, who has an interior designing business, said she had been attacked because she had advised Dutta Gupta to get psychiatric counselling for his habit of constantly calling in sick.

Dutta Gupta had stepped out of the office yesterday saying he needed to buy something. He returned after 15 minutes, allegedly carrying the knife.

"He entered my wife's cabin saying, 'I'm back, madam'. As she looked up from her computer, she saw him poised to strike," Bhaskar said at the couple's Baghbazar home, recalling what his wife had told him.

Dutta Gupta is the second in command at the first-floor CMS (cash management services) branch, where he has worked for more than three years. Bhattacharya joined as manager a year ago, sources said. The bank has a regular branch on the ground floor.

Police had initially thought they had rescued a mentally ill man from committing suicide but, after receiving reports of the attack, arrested Dutta Gupta. Charged with "voluntarily causing grievous hurt with a dangerous weapon", which carries 10 years to a life term, he was sent to judicial remand today.

Dutta Gupta often fainted at his workplace and complained of high blood sugar levels, a colleague said. Officers said he appeared mentally unwell.