Rs 33.3 lakh withdrawn fraudulently
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, November 02 2018:
In one of the biggest cases of forgery and fraudulence ever reported in the State, an amount of Rs 33.30 lakh has been withdrawn from the Bank of Baroda using cheques but without any knowledge of the account holder.
The fraud came to light today when another cheque of Rs 16 lakh was submitted to the bank for encashment.
Narengbam Bishwajit said that sums of Rs 18 lakh and Rs 15.30 lakh were withdrawn from the account of his sister-in-law Narengbam Tilotama of Sagolband Tera on October 10 and October 30 respectively.
The cheques were applied by one Sandeep Patel through Yes Bank, Guwahati and the cheques were encashed after they were cleared by core-banking system of Bank of Baroda, Guwahati.
Tilotama has her account at Bank of Baroda, Changangei.
Sandeep Patel submitted another cheque of Rs 16 lakh to Bank of Baroda, Guwahati but Guwahati officials sent an e-mail to the Changangei branch manager to examine the cheque.
Subsequently, the branch manager contacted the account holder on mobile phone and the account holder made it clear that she did not issue any such cheques to anyone.
When Tilotama went to the bank, she came to know that Rs 33.30 lakh had been already withdrawn from her bank account.
Even as the branch manager showed an application purportedly submitted by Tilotama seeking alteration of the mobile number she used in opening the bank account, Tilotama maintained that she did not submit any such application.
As such, it is highly questionable how the account holder's phone number was changed without her knowledge.
It is said that the new mobile number inserted against Tilotama's account was not working when the branch manager dialed it.
Meanwhile, Bishwajit has expressed strong suspicion about the involvement of some staff of Bank of Baroda in the big fraud.
Saying that a complaint has been lodged with police regarding the fraudulent withdrawal of the huge amount of money, Bishwajit conveyed that the bank should pay back the withdrawn amount as well as commensurate compensation.