The branch manager of a nationalised bank is among the three persons booked for allegedly misusing the fixed deposit account of a customer to generate overdrafts worth ₹5.7 crore and transferring it to around 30 bank accounts in West Bengal and parts of the State within seven days this May.
The fraud came to light when senior officials stumbled upon the sudden spurts of overdrafts and initiated the probe.
Based on a complaint by D.S. Murthy, Zonal Manager of Indian Bank, the Hanumanthanagar police charged the branch manager, the assistant manager, and the clerk with cheating and forgery on Friday.
Mr. Murthy, in his complaint, said that one of the customers with a balance of ₹1.3 crore had borrowed a loan of ₹75 lakh.
As per the procedure, the bank had put a lien mark on the account (if someone deposits an FD as security for a loan, after that he/she will be unable to withdraw any amount from the FD as the bank will be putting a lock or marking that FD amount as a lien amount).
However, the accused removed the lien mark and generated overdrafts basing the FD account as surety and transferred the ₹5.7 crore to 30 different bank accounts of West Bengal and Karnataka, the police said.
The police have initiated probe and are verifying the documents to track down the beneficiaries’ accounts and their link to the accused.
