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₹962 cr credited to accounts of two poor students in Bihar, bank probes
The incident came into light on Wednesday when outgoing mukhiya (panchayat head) took some of the students to the local CSP to check whether their accounts were credited with money for books and school dress.
Authorities at Uttar Bihar Gramin Bank (UBGB) are probing how accounts of two poor students of class VI of a village in Katihar district, whose minor accounts were opened for the purpose of school scholarship and other government benefits, got credited with ₹62 crore and ₹900 crore respectively on Wednesday.
The incident came into light at Pastia village of Bhaghaura panchayat in Katihar on Wednesday when outgoing mukhiya (panchayat head), Lalan Vishwas, took some of the students to the local CSP (customers’ service point) to check whether their accounts were credited with money for books and school dress.
“I was surprised when I was told about the money credited in the accounts of two class VI students in Uttar Bihar Gramin Bank,” he said.
The accounts of two students, identified as Ashish Kumar and Guruchand Vishwas, both with Belagunj branch of UBGB, showed ₹62,00,11,100 and ₹900,52,21,233 as balance respectively, he said.
Regional manager of UBGB, Ram Nath Mishra, on Thursday dismissed reports that the accounts were credited with crores of rupees. “We have obtained the statement of these two accounts and found ₹100 and ₹128 in them.”
“Account number 1008151030208081 of Ashish Kumar has Rs100 in it while account number 1008151030208018 of Guruchand Vishwas had ₹128. Both are the minor accounts,” Mishra said.
“It could be a server error at the CSP. Since both are minor accounts, there is no question of any withdrawal,” he said.
However, both the accounts were put on freeze after the matter was highlighted. “We are probing the matter,” Mishra said.
A few days ago, a person named Ranjit Das of Khagaria district in Bihar was arrested after he refused to return ₹5.50 lakh credited in his UBGB account in April last year, claiming that it was sent to him by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi as help during the Covid-19 lockdown. He was arrested after bank officials lodged an FIR.
