Bengaluru: Bank manager arrested for ₹5.7-crore scam

The bank’s Zonal Manager DS Murthy had filed a complaint against the three individuals, based on which this action was taken.

Money transfer

The fraud, which took place between 13 May and 19 May, came to light during an internal probe of the bank, the police said.

It was discovered that ₹5.7 crore was released in the name of a bank customer.

The woman customer had opened a fixed deposit account with ₹1.3 crore in her name.

On the same amount, she availed a loan of ₹75 lakh. She submitted the relevant documents to avail the loan.

However, the suspects allegedly teamed up and tampered with the documents and used them as security to release ₹5.7 crore through multiple instalments as overdraft.

They are said to have transferred the amount to as many as 28 accounts opened in West Bengal and two accounts in Karnataka. The total number of transactions made was 136, according to the police.

Police officers added that Indian Bank has frozen an account to which the suspects transferred Rs 7 lakh.

The police have booked the suspects under IPC Sections 409 (criminal breach of trust by a public servant, or by a banker, merchant or agent), 420( cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), and 120B (criminal conspiracy).

The police said Shankar used his two colleagues to commit the fraud, and added that the other two would be arrested if their role is proved in the crime.

Trickery involved?

According to the cops, Shankar, who confessed the crime, claimed that he was tricked by cybercriminals, who lured him through a dating app.

Shankar added that he lost ₹12.5 lakh to them from his personal account, and that’s why transferred the money fraudulently from his branch’s account.

The police, however, are not believing his claim.