6 officials of Union Bank of India booked in illegal money transfer case

The action comes after an official of the Corporation died by suicide on Sunday, leaving behind a note in which he named senior officials.

ByPTI

Published May 30, 2024 | 4:45 PM Updated May 30, 2024 | 4:45 PM

Union Bank of India.

A case has been registered against six officials of the Union Bank of India for allegedly fraudulently diverting around ₹94.73 crore of the Karnataka Maharshi Valmiki Scheduled Tribe Development Corporation Ltd to various other bank accounts, police said on Thursday, 30 May.

The action comes after an official of the Corporation died by suicide on Sunday, leaving behind a note in which he named the Managing Director JG Padmanabh, Accounts Officer Parashuram G Durugannavar and Union Bank of India Chief Manager Suchismita Rawal in the note.

In the complaint filed on 28 May, A Rajashekar, the General Manager of the Corporation has alleged “severe fraudulent activities” involving the top management of Union Bank of India, MG Road branch here and other third parties, which have caused “substantial financial and reputational damage” to the organisation.

Also Read: Official dies by suicide, alleges superiors pressured him to illegally transfer ₹85 crore

Details of the complaint

He said on 19 February, the Karnataka Maharshi Valmiki Scheduled Tribe Development Corporation transferred its account from the Vasanthnagar branch to the MG Road branch of the national bank.

“A total of ₹187.33 crore was transferred from various banks and the State Huzur Treasury Khajane-II to our savings Bank account at Union Bank of India, MG Road Branch,” he said.

Citing the model code of conduct, the corporation did not communicate with the bank. Consequently, the bank failed to send the new passbook and chequebook to our registered address, he said in the complaint.

When officials visited the branch on 21 May to collect the documents they were denied by the branch officer, who later visited the corporation office on 22 May, claiming that the documents were already issued, which was found to be untrue.

“Further perusal revealed numerous forged letters, forged cheques, and RTGS requests with fake signatures of the officers and Account Officer, forged/fake board resolution leading to unauthorized disbursements of funds from the organisation’s bank account.

Also Read: Karnataka government suspends two officials of Valmiki Corporation

‘Forged documents’

Upon verification of the passbook, it was found that ₹94.73 crore was disbursed from the account by the national bank, based on forged documents.

The complainant accused the management of Union Bank of India of ‘failing’ to address the illegalities and continuing to act in such an illegal manner, being fully aware of such fraudulent acts being carried out by the branch officials and other third parties.

Further, upon being made aware of these acts, one of the employees of the corporation, Chandrashekar P, who was the Account Superintendent died by suicide after naming the Managing Director, Accounts officer and the Chief Manager in the suicide note, the complaint alleged.

“Given the blatant illegal acts committed by the top management, bank officials, we request immediate action against A Manimekhalai, MD and CEO, Union Bank of India, Nitesh Ranjan, Ramasubramanium, Sanjay Rudra, Pankaj Dwivedi, the Executive Directors and Suchishitha Raul, the Chief Manager of Union Bank of India, MG Road and other involved parties,” it added.

Based on the complaint, an FIR has been registered at High Grounds Police Station in Bengaluru. Further investigation is underway into the matter which is being probed by the CID team, the police said.

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