BENGALURU: A bank manager was arrested on Wednesday for allegedly diverting Rs 5.7 crore to 30 different accounts, including 28 in west Bengaluru.
The accused is Hari Shankar, manager of Indian Bank’s Hanumanthnagar branch. He claimed he lost money to cybercriminals who lured him using a dating application.
Shankar was produced before a court on Wednesday and remanded in police custody for 10 days. Police registered a cheating and criminal conspiracy case against Shankar and two of his subordinates on June 17, based on a complaint filed by the zonal manager of Indian Bank, DS Murthy.
Shankar’s colleagues — assistant branch manager Kausalya Jerai and clerk Muniraju — have been named as suspects in the FIR. The alleged fraud took place between May 13 and May 19, and came to light during an internal probe into the release of Rs 5.7 crore in the name of a bank customer.
According to sources, a woman customer deposited Rs 1.3 crore in her name and recently availed Rs 75 lakh as loan against it. She submitted the deposit documents with the bank to avail the loan. The suspect-officials allegedly teamed up, tampered with the documents and used them as security to release Rs 5.7 crore in multiple instalments as overdraft.
Internal probe by the bank revealed that the accused had diverted the funds to 28 accounts opened in various banks in West Bengal and two accounts in Karnataka in 136 transactions. Police said preliminary probe revealed Shankar had misused the two colleagues to commit fraud, adding they may be arrested if their role is proved. Officers added Indian Bank had frozen a bank account, to which the suspects diverted Rs 7 lakh.
According to police, Shankar confessed to the crime and claimed he was tricked by cybercriminals. He claimed he lost Rs 12.5 lakh to the miscreants from his personal account and later diverted funds fraudulently from his bank.
“We are not believing his claim. We will collect his mobile, which he had surrendered during the internal probe, for forensic examination,” said an investigating officer.
