The man, Vishnu Nandakumar, had posted on Facebook that “Ivale ellamippozhekonnathunannayi… allenkilnaale Indiaykku ethire bomb aayivannene” (Better she was killed now itself, otherwise she could have come with a bomb against India tomorrow).Though the post did not mention any particular incident or name, netizens took up the issue. Several of them—after learning from his Facebook page that Nandakumar was working with Kotak Mahindra—bombarded the financial institution’s social media pages with demands initiating action against him for his ‘perverted’ justification of a gruesome act.

Some others followed up his social media footprint and came up with photographs, purportedly linking Nandakumar with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.

Following the onslaught, Nandakumar deactivated his page, but indignant social media users targeted the bank for retaining the man.

One of them, Abdul Jaleel, wrote: “Dismiss your employee working in your bank as assistant manager @ ernakulam branch, for supporting the heart broken cruel activity in public domain”. Various #tag campaigns, such as #dismiss_your_manager_vishnu_nandakumar and #dismiss_your_manager, were also launched.

The bank later fired Nandakumar. The bank’s spokesperson Rohit Rao issued a statement, saying the man’s services were terminated due to poor performance on Wednesday.

“It is extremely disheartening to see such comments being made in the aftermath of such a tragedy by anyone including an ex-employee. We strongly condemn this statement,” the bank said in a statement, which was also posted on social media.

The security guards at the Palarivattom branch said the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) held a protest march before the institution on Friday afternoon. “There might have been 25 people in the march – they came here, shouted slogans and returned. The Facebook post had gone viral on Thursday night and by today morning there appeared three posters against him on the nearby tree and a wall,” one of them said.