Fake bank manager dupes MRISMC of ₹54 crore

Man posing as UCO bank manager dupes MRISMC in Navi Mumbai of ₹54 crore by suggesting FD investments, using fake receipts. Police investigating the scam.

Navi Mumbai: A man who posed as a UCO bank manager from Panvel duped the Metropolitan Region Iron and Steel Market Committee (MRISMC) of ₹54 crore. The accused, who identified himself as Suman Sharma, has been duping the company for two years after suggesting they put money in fixed deposits (FD) with nationalised banks for ‘better returns’

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“Since 2022, the committee has been issuing checks of ₹1 crore every month to the accused to be credited into its fixed deposit accounts. The committee, in return, was provided with fake receipts,” said a police officer investigating the scam.

The fraud came to light on April 10, when the new CEO of the committee, Sambhaji Nikam, was informed about the status of various financial accounts held by the committee. Sangeeta Dongre earlier held the post. The newly appointed CEO filed a complaint with the Kalamboli police against the fraud on Monday.

The iron and steel market spread over 302 hectares in Kalamboli has 1,910 commercial godowns. The committee collects taxes against providing basic amenities, maintenance, etc. The collected amount is credited into an account held by the Committee with Canara Bank. After deducting the expenses incurred by the committee, the remaining amount is secured as FD into nationalised banks for better interest rates.

Upon learning that fixed deposits worth ₹18 crore with UCO Bank were due to mature on April 15, the committee decided to transfer the amount to their Canara Bank account and made a direct transfer request to UCO Bank.

The complainant told the police that the letter was given to Suman Sharma on April 12 as he was the committee’s only contact with the bank. Afterwards, Sharma, who usually promptly collected the cheques every month, began giving evasive replies.

He tried every means to prevent the transfer and gave reasons such as auto-renewal of the FD, impending bank merger and non-availability of senior bank officials, etc. Eventually, his phone became not reachable, said the police officer.

The CEO, on 30 May, asked a member of staff to visit the branch in Panvel, which revealed that the Panvel branch of UCO Bank, as well as its head office in Fort, Mumbai, stated to have no records of a concerned employee the name of Suman Sharma.

Even the receipts issued against the cheques were fake. “Since the fraud himself collected the cheques, he made sure it was issued against an account number instead of any name. The fraud went undetected. The probe is at a preliminary stage, and we are investigating further,” said an officer from the Crime branch.

A case has been registered under sections 420 (cheating), 465 (forgery), 467 (forgery of valuable security, will etc),468 (forgery for cheating) and 471 (using forged document as genuine) of the Indian Penal Code.