Katihar: A day after the minor bank accounts of two Class VI students — which were opened to receive school scholarship and other government benefits — at a village in Bihar’s Katihar district were allegedly credited with a total of ₹962 crore, authorities at Uttar Bihar Gramin Bank (UBGB) on Thursday sprang into action to probe the matter.
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,” Vishwas said.
The accounts of two students, identified as Ashish Kumar and Guruchand Vishwas, both with Belagunj branch of UBGB, showed ₹62,00,11,100 ( ₹62 crore) and ₹9,00,52,21,233 ( ₹900 crore) as balance, respectively, Vishwas said.
Regional manager of UBGB, Ram Nath Mishra, on Thursday dismissed the reports, saying: “We have obtained the statement of these two accounts and found ₹100 and ₹128 in them.”
“The account of Ashish Kumar has ₹100 in it while account of Guruchand Vishwas has ₹128. Both are the minor accounts,” Mishra said.
{{/usCountry}}“The account of Ashish Kumar has ₹100 in it while account of Guruchand Vishwas has ₹128. Both are the minor accounts,” Mishra said.
{{/usCountry}}“It could be a server error at the CSP. Since both are minor accounts, there is no question of any withdrawal,” he added.
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 it was sent to him by Prime Minister Narendra Modi as help during the Covid-19 lockdown. He was arrested after bank officials lodged an FIR.