Paresh Acquitted in Multi-Million Vault Heist Case Posthumously
Sixteen years after a major heist at the Faridpur corporate branch of Janata Bank, the judiciary has delivered a stinging rebuke to the lender, highlighting a failure to hold actual perpetrators accountable while unjustly targeting a security guard. In a ruling delivered on February 3, the High Court dismissed a civil appeal filed by the bank seeking to recover funds lost during a 2010 vault theft, while ordering the institution to pay compensation to the family of the late guard, Paresh Chandra Das, for years of legal harassment.
The case dates back to February 19, 2010, when 9.4 million taka was reported stolen from the bank's vault. Paresh Chandra Das, who served as a security guard at the facility for over two decades, was immediately implicated by bank management. Despite his claims of innocence and a confession detailing how he had been coerced by intruders, the bank initiated both criminal proceedings and a civil "money suit" against him.
While the criminal case saw Das convicted by a magistrate court in 2020—a sentence later reduced by a sessions court—the High Court ultimately overturned the conviction in January 2025. Das, however, did not live to see his name cleared, having passed away in January 2024. The High Court bench, comprising Justice Md. Iqbal Kabir and Justice Md. Riaz Uddin Khan, criticized the original investigation, noting that law enforcement failed to conduct a meaningful inquiry into the vault breach. The court observed that investigators ignored individuals who held the vault keys and staff members who had returned to the bank after a picnic on the day of the incident, suggesting a deliberate attempt to shield the true culprits.
In its recent judgment regarding the civil suit, the High Court upheld a lower court’s decision to dismiss the bank’s claim, ordering Janata Bank to pay 60,000 taka in total—10,000 taka in court costs and 50,000 taka in compensatory damages—to Das's widow and two children. The court declared that civil litigation is not a valid mechanism for recovering stolen assets and criticized the bank for its persistent pursuit of a single employee while the masterminds of the theft remained at large.
The legal battle has left the Das family devastated. Pranab Kumar Das, the late guard's son, expressed deep sorrow that his father died before the verdict could vindicate his reputation. He emphasized that the family endured 16 years of social stigma and financial strain due to the bank's actions. With the legal proceedings finally concluded in their favor, the family is now calling on Janata Bank to release the post-retirement benefits owed to his father, asserting that the guard was a victim of a system designed to protect those actually responsible for the vault's compromise.
Counsel for the bank, Advocate Md. Arif Billah, stated that the institution is currently awaiting the full text of the High Court's written judgment before determining its next course of action. Meanwhile, legal experts associated with the case suggest that the bank’s failure to investigate key personnel with access to the vault during the initial stages of the robbery remains a glaring unresolved issue in the 16-year-old mystery.
