Relationship manager siphons off ₹9.41 cr

Former bank employee booked for allegedly siphoning off ₹9.41 crore from senior citizen's account through forged documents and signatures.

MUMBAI: The Gamdevi police have booked a former employee of a private bank for allegedly siphoning off ₹9.41 crore from the account of a senior citizen residing at Peddar Road.

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According to the police, Ravi Sharma, a former bank executive gained the confidence of the senior citizen, a high-net individual (HNI), while working as his relationship manager. Between 2019 and 2023, he shared forged statements with the senior citizen showing handsome returns on investments made through the bank and took his signatures on various documents, siphoning off the money to his personal bank accounts.

In her complaint, Monika Valecha, 49, the senior citizen’s daughter who lives in Grant Road, stated that Sharma used to visit their house on regular intervals and guide them on investments. In 2019, he started taking her father’s signatures on various forms and cheques in the name of investments, she added.

“Sharma even replaced the customer’s mobile number associated with the bank account with his own. So, the customer did not get any alerts about the transactions from his account,” said a police officer. Though Sharma left his job with the multinational bank in November 2023, he continued posing as a relationship manager and carrying out bank transactions for the senior citizen.

“Valecha learned about the fraud when she visited the bank to withdraw some money from her father’s account,” said the police officer.

Sharma and one of his friends whose account the money was transferred to have been booked under sections 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servant), 420 (cheating), 464 (forgery), 467 (forgery of valuable security, will, etc.), 468 (forgery for the purpose of cheating), 471 (using as genuine a forged document) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code.