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Mohali: Cashier suspected of helping bank manager steal clients’ crores arrested
Bank manager on the run with at least ₹9 crore; quantum of money stolen may go up as more complaints pour in, say Mohali police
A day after police launched a hunt for the manager of Axis Bank in Bansepur, Mullanpur, who is on the run after allegedly stealing crores from customers’ accounts, police on Thursday arrested the bank’s cashier, suspecting his collusion with the key accused.
The cashier, identified as Sujeet Kumar, 30, is a native of Himachal Pradesh (HP) and lives on the Panjab University campus in Chandigarh with a relative. He was arrested from the bank.
Police said during investigation, bank officials suspected Kumar was also involved in the multi-crore fraud executed by bank manager Gaurav, 35, hailing from Pathankot.
Acting on the complaint of Vikas Sood, the officiating branch head of the said bank, police have booked both Kumar and Gaurav under Section 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servant), 381 (theft by clerk or servant) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code at the Mullanpur police station.
25 complaints already in
Police have already received 25 complaints from bank customers, accusing the manager of siphoning a total of ₹9 crore from their accounts.
One of the victims, Inderjit Singh, who is behind the bars in a murder case for the past three years, also lost ₹33 lakh.
Bank officials are collecting written applications from the complainants to verify the exact amount stolen, before sending their cases to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
“The special fraud detection wing of the bank has also pitched in and will forward the cases to RBI for retrieving the stolen money. We have so far detected a fraud of ₹9 crore,” an investigator said.
Transferred money to fake accounts in parents’ names
Police said as per preliminary probe, as part of his elaborate plan, the bank manager made fake accounts in the names of his father, mother and domestic help, and transferred the bank customers’ money there.
“His parents were not aware of any such accounts. The accused cancelled the customers’ fixed deposit plans and changed their phone numbers in their account details so that they don’t receive OTPs or updates regarding deductions from their accounts,” a cop said.
Could have escaped to Nepal
Police are suspecting that the bank manager fled to Nepal, along with his Nepalese cook, Rajesh, who is also missing.
Sources said Gaurav called his father on Wednesday to apologise for his mistakes before turning off his mobile phone. Mullanpur DSP Dharamvir Singh said, “Our teams are raiding his possible hideouts. The quantum of the fraud may increase as more complaints pour in.”
The fraud came to the fore after the bank manager didn’t turn up for work for several days.
A local villager, who has an account in Axis Bank, had been making rounds of the Bansepur branch for the past month to get his passbook updated, but was turned away by the manager each time, citing a fault with the machine.
When the villager eventually got his bank statement from another branch, he was shocked to find his balance significantly depleted and some unauthorised transfers to other accounts.
On returning to the Bansepur branch, he learnt that the manager had not been reporting to work and could also not be contacted.
The victim contacted other account holders, who also discovered huge deductions from their accounts. After receiving multiple complaints, police contacted the bank officials and even raided the manager’s rented accommodation in a society in Mullanpur but the house was locked.
