The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has booked four employees of the government-owned Assam Gramin Vikash Bank’s Madhapur branch in Jorhat district, Assam, on charges of entering a “criminal conspiracy among themselves and unknown persons” and “fraudulently causing” an approximate loss of ₹8,28,42,900 to the bank.

The investigating agency has registered a case against the quartet, including the three then-assistant managers and an office assistant. The then-assistant managers are Prasanta Bora, Priyankshu Pallabh Gogoi and Sohan Dutta. The office assistant (multi-purpose) has been identified as Satyajit Chaliha.

Bora and Gogoi were suspended in May while Chaliha was replaced for their alleged involvement in the fraudulent dealings.

According to a CBI statement issued on Tuesday, the accused are alleged to have “dishonestly and fraudulently, sanctioned and disbursed amounts in fictitious self-help group (SHG) loan accounts and transferred the proceeds of the same to savings bank account of one of the accused (then) assistant managers and other bank accounts”.

The investigating agency had “conducted searches at seven places” in Assam, including at the residential and official premises of the accused at Jorhat, Tinsukia and Dibrugarh, “and one place in West Bengal which led to the recovery of incriminating documents.”

Sources said a new manager took charge of the branch on Wednesday and that all four accused were suspended. Efforts to contact the bank headquarters in Guwahati proved futile.

A team from the Guwahati-headquartered bank visited the branch to carry out a thorough probe into the allegations. The rural bank has 473 branches across the state.

The bank is about 32km from Jorhat town and about 10km from Titabor, known for its rice production.