55-year-old held for duping Punjab National Bank staff in Delhi

Delhi Police arrested a man for siphoning over ₹25 lakh from PNB employees by stealing their phones; targeted due to PNB app access.

The Delhi Police on Friday said it arrested a 47-year-old man for allegedly targetting multiple employees of Punjab National Bank and siphoning off more than ₹25 lakh from their bank accounts on Thursday. Police said the man was nabbed when he attempted to steal a phone from the South Campus branch.

Investigators found that six cases across Delhi had been filed against Arora. (Representational image)

Deputy commissioner of police (south west) Rohit Meena said identified the suspect as Deepak Arora.

A police officer aware of the matter said that they received a complaint from the South Campus branch manager on Thursday regarding the suspicious conduct of the man.

“Branch managers from across the city had created a WhatsApp group after they discovered that several employees had become victims of monetary fraud. In some cases, the phones of their employees were stolen. They obtained CCTV footage and zeroed in on a man who the branch respective branches,” the officer said, asking not to be named.

Arora had allegedly stolen an iPhone of a bank employee at the Green Park branch on Wednesday, the CCTV footage of which was circulated on the WhatsApp group.

“He had not changed his clothes since Wednesday. Therefore, when he tried to steal a phone at the South Campus branch, the staff alerted police after which he was caught,” the officer quoted anonymously said.

During the probe, it came to light that Arora only targeted PNB employees because he knew they would have the “PNB app” on their phones linked to the Aadhaar card through which he was able to access their bank accounts.

“Arora used to visit a PNB branch and either steal the phone of their employees or manage to take the sim out by whisking it away for a few minutes. If he stole the phone, would throw it away because he only needed the sim card. He would then insert the sim card on his phone, open the app and re-generate the pin. He would then get the OTP which allowed him to access the virtual card and transfer money to his account,” said the officer.

Investigators found that six cases across Delhi had been filed against Arora. Arora told police that his wife suffered a kidney failure and had to be taken for dialysis every week. He was not able to fund the treatment and started gambling online. In 2022, his wife passed away but he continued to gamble,” the officer added.

HT reached out to PNB which did not issue an official comment. However, a representative, on condition of anonymity, said that the bank would issue a statement through a proper channel.