Noida: One arrested in ₹16.71 cr Nainital Bank server hacking case

The suspect came in contact with cyber fraudsters and they siphoned money from the bank using that fake current account

Noida: The cybercrime branch police arrested a 29-year-old man on Thursday in connection with the Nainital Bank’s server hacking case in which some unidentified suspects siphoned off ₹16.71 crore in 84 transactions between June 16 and June 20, 2024, said police on Friday.

Suspect Harsh Bansal (HT Photo)

“The suspect has been identified as Harsh Bansal, 29, a resident of Dadri in Greater Noida,” said Vivek Ranjan, assistant commissioner of police (ACP), cybercrime branch, GB Nagar.

“Harsh Bansal, with the help of his chartered accountant (CA) brother Shubham Bansal had opened a fake current bank account in Nainital bank after opening a fake firm registered in Ghaziabad,” said ACP Ranjan.

“The suspect (Harsh) came in contact with cyber fraudsters and they siphoned money from the bank using that fake current account. They also transferred ₹99 lakh to a bank account in Ghaziabad on June 19, and Harsh got a commission of ₹6 lakh for his role, the officer informed.

“During the investigation, it came to light that Shubham Bansal took the responsibility to move the money from one account to another. More information about transferring money to other bank accounts and how many people are involved in the case would be revealed after the arrest of Shubham,” said ACP Ranjan, adding that Harsh has no information about the modus-operandi of the gang.

Till Friday, police had frozen ₹2.8 crore of the total siphoned off amount and sealed the Ghaziabad-located CA office of Shubham Bansal, said police, adding that Harsh was arrested from Lal Kuan Road in Ghaziabad on Thursday. He claimed to have spent a total of ₹6 lakh, that he received as commission from fraudsters, in paying his debts.

Police have added sections 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 120 B (criminal conspiracy), and 201 (disappearance of evidence) of Indian Penal Code in the case. Earlier, a case under sections 420 (cheating and dishonesty) of the IPC and 66C (fraudulently or dishonestly making use of the electronic signature) of the IT Act was registered at cybercrime branch police station on July 10.

To be sure, during routine reconciliation of accounts on June 17, a difference of ₹3 crore was found…Suspecting a technical error for showing up a difference, the bank officials decided to wait a day. But on June 18, when a similar issue popped up and a difference of around ₹2 crore was found, the matter was escalated on June 19 and reported to police by IT manager of the Noida Sector-62 located Nainital Bank’s branch, officers said.